


Godly Reckoning

by Arctic_Pheonix



Series: RWBY And The Gods of Earth [1]
Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, RWBY
Genre: Adam Taurus Being an Asshole, Alive!Penny, Don't Post To Another Site, Dragon Yang Xiao Long, Drunk Qrow Branwen, F/F, F/M, No One Can Keep A Goddamn Oath, Ozpin is confused, Past Blake Belladonna/Adam Taurus, Qrow Branwen is Ruby Rose's Parent, Queen Ruby Rose, Ruby Rose is a Faunus, Ruby Rose is a Grimm, Turns out Qrow isn't drunk enough, Yang is a Branwen, implied at least - Freeform, no one - Freeform, sorta?
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-10
Updated: 2019-12-15
Packaged: 2020-01-11 04:49:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 21
Words: 56,404
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18423138
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Arctic_Pheonix/pseuds/Arctic_Pheonix
Summary: Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, Blake Belladonna, Yang Xiao-longFour girls from Remnant, four demigods, two Faunus and two humans, what more could they have in common? Well, none of them should have been bornThere are others like them, other demigods on Remnant other powers in the world, forces far darker than the Gods had ever seen before. Things are changing, whether it's for better or worse can't be determined but the world will forever be changed.Note: Chapter 20 was listed as Chapter 22 up until recently, the removal of both not-chapters bumped it down





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Edited: 26/07/19 at 00:00  
> Beta: BetrayalTale

Ruby had been nine years old the first time she had been sent to Camp Half-Blood alongside her eleven-year-old cousin.  The pair weren’t sure how to feel about going to this camp, about their mothers apparently being goddess’s, about being away from their fathers for multiple months but mostly, they were unsure of this new world that the camp was in.

“Come on Rubes, we have to get used to it,” Yang said, tugging lightly on her backpack strap. ”Dad said we'd be safe here.”

Ruby lightly kicked at a rock as she walked. “I know, it’s just so weird.”

“What?” Yang looked frustrated as she went on. “The demigod thing or the new world?” Neither needed the answer, as frankly, both were equally freaky.

The pair began their climb up Half-Blood hill towards Thalia’s pine. Both of the young girls paused for a moment at the barrier, glancing at the large dragon coiled around the tree and a shimmering gold fleece hanging off a nearby branch. The girls took a calming breath, both understanding that this was it, the make or break moment.  All they had to do to prove to themselves that they were demigods was cross the boundary line. Yang grabbed Ruby’s hand and, muttering a quick encouragement, they crossed together.

 

(<=Percy=>)

 

Percy was sitting at the big house’s porch when he noticed the pair of girls atop half-blood hill. Percy couldn’t get much for details at this distance, not that he was trying to pay attention to what they really looked like yet anyway.

“Chiron! We got people at the boundary!” Percy scrambled to his feet as he called out to his teacher. Pulling his sword from his pocket, he rushed up the hill. Assuming the two were demigods, they would probably have a monster after them; it was, after all, usually the case. Percy slowed slightly as he ran, confused when he noticed that the girls were calmly walking down the hill.

“Hey, you two alright?” Percy called out to the two girls as he neared them. The older girl was blond with lilac eyes, a yellow t-shirt and black shorts while the younger had dark red hair with a pair of wolf ears on the top of her head. She was dressed in a red, sleeveless hoodie and a black skirt.

The redhead ducked back and behind the blond, quickly pulling her hood up over her head to hide her ears as she did so. The blonde’s stance shifted ever so slightly-- one foot back, arms slightly raised. She was fully ready to take on someone two years older than herself to defend the wolf-eared girl behind her. Quickly putting his sword away to show that he meant them no harm, Percy went to take a step forward, only to be stopped by the sound of metal sliding on metal.

“Stay back!” The girl’s stance had widened, her hands held higher as her golden bracelets had expanded to cover her forearms. She cocked her fist back causing, the main piece of the gauntlet to slide back and expel what appeared to be a shotgun shell. The more Percy looked at her, the more obvious it became that she was fully committed to protecting the other girl.

Percy supposed that not trusting the person who had just run towards you with a sword was probably a good idea, so he conceded and took a step back.

“Hey, there’s no need to worry, this is a safe place for people like us,” Percy said a bit frantically as he gestured towards the big house. Even with everything he had seen, it wasn’t exactly every day a random girl with shotgun arms looked ready to blast him away. ”Now come on, we’ve got to see Chiron.”

“Who’s Chiron and why do we need to see him?” The redhead peeked out from behind the blond, a large red block of what Percy thought was metal clutched tightly in her arms. The redhead’s actions caught the blonde’s attention, and her stance changed again, her back fist raised ever so slightly as she shifted to the side and revealed more of the younger girl.

Percy watched the blonde's movements closely and understood that everything she did cut him off from the redhead. Her positioning now was clearly meant to invite him to try and get by her, only so she could grab him or give her room to drive him into the ground. No way he could even be protected from the blasts those gauntlets must make, not at that close of range, and she knew it. They were trained, or at least the blonde was.

“I am the activity director here at camp, and as for why you need to see me, I am in charge of orientation for new campers.” Chiron had arrived at the scene, finally, to save Percy from a pair of girls that could realistically make him the replacement for somebody’s spaghetti dinner. “Now, what are your names?”

“Yang Xiao-Long, and this is my little cousin, Ruby Rose.” The blonde gestured first to herself and then the younger girl. As she did so, her gauntlets slid back into their compact bracelet form. Seeing the pair of gauntlets change like that surprised Chiron.

“Yang! Yang! He’s a horse!” Ruby, meanwhile, was practically vibrating with excitement. “Does that mean he’s like me?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Check My twitter for updates and info: Pheonix @BlazingDusk


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Weiss and Blake meet Ruby for the first time, they all agree Artemis is pretty cool

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Edited: 01/08/2019  
> Beta: BetrayalTale  
> Twitter fo update's and plans: Pheonix @BlazingDusk

Weiss knew perfectly well who her mother was, but there was just one tiny issue with anyone else finding out: Weiss wasn’t supposed to exist.  Oaths of eternal maidenhood were a big deal, which is why Weiss’s mother had earned so much respect from her daughter; it couldn’t have been easy to hide Weiss from other gods, not when many of them were most likely keeping tabs on who had kept their vows and who had not. Of course, this respect extended to all other gods who had kids they weren't supposed to, including Poseidon, the Lord of the Sea, who had somehow managed to hide his son for twelve years and only failed after that because of some idiot stealing the master bolt.

Blake, the only other Remnetian in camp, was much like Weiss: she wasn’t supposed to exist either. This, of course, led the pair to a close bond, both knowing who their godly parent is, but neither being allowed to tell anyone.

“Hey Weiss, the new campers are apparently from Remnant as well.” Weiss glanced at the black-haired cat she called her friend. That was interesting to her, now knowing that the two of them weren't the only demigods from their homeworld.

“Wonder who their parents are, then? Anything interesting about the two new kids?” Weiss turned back to her activity, tinkering with the Dust chamber on Myrtenaster as she spoke. They were in the forge offered by the camp, and Weiss was working on her weapon, with Blake having decided to join her and laze around.

“Yeah, the blonde, who’s our age, punched one of the Ares kids through a pillar at the dining pavilion this morning after he started teasing the younger girl for keeping her hood up all the time.” Weiss winced, knowing that would certainly hurt. It had probably been done to send a message, but still, there were less rough--and destructive--ways of going about it. 

“And the younger girl?” Blake was good at finding information, so she likely already knew something she wasn’t supposed to.

“Smells like wolf.” Weiss stopped what she was doing and stared. To her, that made no sense. Wolf Faunus hadn’t been seen in almost a half a millennia.

There was a sudden crash from just outside, and a voice quickly apologizing shortly after. The voice was that of a young girl, and after properly saying sorry she had started asking about the forge. After an unheard answer was given, followed with a quick thanks, the door opened and the new camper in the red hoodie walked in and froze on the spot.

“Hey pup, whatcha doing here?” Blake was able to keep her head far better than Weiss, which wasn’t hard as the white-haired girl was openly staring at the child with the big red box in her hands.

“T-they won’t make fun of me, or hurt me?” The redhead stammered out as she stared at Blake’s ears. What with how Faunus were treated on Remnant, the girl must have been confused at the more lax treatment she got here. While Weiss was trying to figure out exactly how to answer that question, Blake grinned and told the young girl that the other campers were more jealous that the Faunus got night vision than anything really concerning their animal traits.

“And hey! Even Weiss here doesn’t care and she was raised by the  _ Carnufex _ .” Blake’s words and smile seemed to reassure the girl as she pulled her hood down.

“I still can’t believe how accurate that term is to describe the fucktwat.” Weiss went back to her weapon after that, only to find the new girl next to her.

“Is that a multi-action dust rapier?! So cool, you don’t see this level of dust integration often anymore.” Weiss wouldn’t ever have thought that this strange new girl could have surprised her any more than she already had, but this had done it. She really needed to get this girl’s name.

“You know what this is, damn... so who are you, and what do you wield?” Weiss looked at the box in her hands as she asked what the new girl used. She wasn’t sure how big a weapon would have to be if it needed to compact down into such a large box. When she thought about it, Weiss wasn’t even sure if it was a weapon at all.

“My name is Ruby Rose, and this is my baby, Crescent Rose,” Ruby grinned as the box was then transformed into a massive six-foot-tall scythe, giving the other two what could best be described as short, mini heart attacks. “She’s not finished yet, though, so I can’t use her.”

Blake took a step back as she looked up at the blade, trying to think of who in their right mind allowed a girl to build a scythe twice her height with intentions of using it in combat. Weiss’s reaction was very different, to say the least.

“You gave your weapon your last name, and you called it your baby? What, do you consider it family or something?” Weiss wasn’t exactly subtle with how she questioned things, as she likes her answers quick and fast. Beating around any kind of bush would just lengthen the entire process, which was unacceptable.

“Yep! Our weapons are an extension of ourselves, so when paired with one we know intimately we can do things that are impossible to everyone else, so of course I consider her family.” Ruby smiled as she let her Scythe transform back to the compact box form, while the other two were busy trying to figure out whether or not she had said all of that in the same breath and sentence. “Besides, Yang has been referring to Ember Celica as ‘The Twins’ since she made them, so it just seems normal to me.”

Blake wasn’t sure how she should feel about this. On one hand, solid reasoning; on the other, _ what? _ This was all just a little weird to Blake, especially since she’d thought that the craziest thing about either new camper would be the whole Wolf Faunus thing. Now, she knew that line of thinking was wrong.

“So what are you doing at the forge?” Weiss glanced down at the box, not quite able to bring herself to believe that this child had designed and built such a complicated mecha-shift weapon and claimed that it wasn’t done yet.

“Oh! Dad says that my sweetheart isn't always going to be enough so I should learn a method of fighting that I can adapt to work in tandem with my scythe as well as on its own, so I was going to try to make my boots into a pair of monster-killing weapons!” Ruby pumped a fist into the air, clearly not seeing how crazy that seemed to anyone not from Remnant, or to anyone sane.

All the other kids in the forge, mostly sons and daughters of Hephaestus, looked at her in mild surprise, many assuming she meant having them be steel-toed with celestial bronze. The unlucky ones could tell that she meant more than that.

Blake smiled, as it was common for hunters to have studded gloves and steel-toed shoes due to the nature of the beast they fought forcing them to acquire every edge they could get. What was less common was actively weaponizing one's shoes.

“So, um, do you guys know who your parents are?” Ruby seemed really nervous now. “It’s just mine told me to ask, and she said that the others from home would understand.”

Blake and Weiss glanced at each other, both understanding the weight that Ruby’s words carried before they got up and told Ruby to follow them. The monochrome duo knew of a location where the gods didn’t listen in, and planned to take Ruby there to talk. It was made specifically for the purpose of giving the campers an area that was their own to talk and joke without the chance of other gods hearing it or taking offence.

Blake turned and looked to the redhead when they got there. Weiss did the same, both having an idea of where this was going. “So what's up, pup?”

“Mama said you’d know what it was like to be at risk from the gods because of who your parents are, she said I could tell you who she is, but only if you tell me who yours are.” Ruby had her hands behind her back and her head down as she kicked at the ground.

“Hades. My father is Hades,” Blake said. She didn’t hesitate to tell the nine-year-old who her father was, and Ruby looked up at her in awe, blown away by how she did it.

“I’m Athena’s first-born.” Weiss stood up straighter as she spoke. From the high and proud visage and tone that she took on when she said that, she was obviously proud of her mother, proud of who she was, and proud of herself.

“That’s so cool! Blake are you like the princess of the dead? I thought Athena had a lot of kids, though.” Ruby was so curious, and probably one of the few people who would have that reaction to Blake’s father.

“I- um well, ah, I don’t actually know…” Blake seemed flustered by Ruby’s words if the blush on her cheeks were anything to go by.

“Mother does have several children but I am her first-born. My siblings were born in much the same way our mother was.” Weiss stood a little taller at just the mention of her having others she could call her siblings. Even knowing that her mother had other children, she didn’t believe that being Athena’s first-born made her special or important. What she failed to realize was that it did.

“Huh, neat. Well anyway, mama says her names Artemis, but she went by Summer in Remnant.” Weiss nearly choked and Blake just about fainted. Ruby looked at the pair with concern clear in her eyes, wondering why they were acting as if something weirder than usual had just been said.

“That’s, wow uh, damn, that’s really surprising and pretty cool,” Blake stammered, unable to form coherent words while Weiss spoke. Ruby’s silver eyes brightened, quite literally, with moonlight. The young girl seemed to enjoy the topic of her mother greatly,

“She’s the coolest! Mama drives the moon!” Ruby’s cheer was incredibly infectious as both Blake and Weiss laughed alongside the redhead. There was a dull thud as someone dropped out of a tree to the groups left. The three girls turned to the source only to find the blonde girl that appeared alongside Ruby when she first came to camp.

“So… four girls who weren’t supposed to be born, huh.” The new girl said this as she dusted herself off and approached them casually, acting as if she had meant to fall out of the tree like that. She stopped beside the younger redhead, arms crossed as she looked Weiss and Blake over. Weiss was also checking the blonde over, musing that she could be a child of Aphrodite based on her looks alone. “Anyway, Yang Xiao-Long, daughter of Hestia.”

Weiss stared at her, thinking that her claim was a bold declaration. Unlike with Ruby, neither Blake or Weiss could see the resemblance between Yang and her supposed mother. It was difficult to see the blonde brute whom had already assaulted Ares’ kids as the daughter of the goddess of the hearth.

“Hm, you doubt my daughters claim, yet readily believe her cousin? Interesting.”  The four turned to the source of the voice to find a woman who looked identical to Yang, clothing and all, save for her red eyes and black hair. Even then, Yang looked tough and all with how she was dressed, but this woman standing here seemed as if she could put fear in their hearts easily if she wanted to, and that was in no small part thanks to what she was wearing.

“Lady Hestia?” Blake had seen Hestia before, and this woman looked nothing like her. “But you look noth-”

“Do you forget that a god can look however they please, young one.” Hestia looked down at Blake, her crimson eyes blazing with the ever-shifting flames of the hearth. Blake took a step back in shock at how offended the goddess sounded.

“I come bearing a message for the four of you: do not allow your fear to stop you from doing what you believe is right.” With those words said, Hestia vanished in a whirlwind of flame and the four girls were left alone together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm obsessed with PJO again and bored with a lack of RWBY, so... This!


	3. Chapter 3

Qrow Branwen wasn’t easily annoyed however the swirling mass of red and black that opened between him and his alcohol was pretty annoying. Of course, his sister was showing up though, her daughter and niece had left for camp.

“Raven, what’s the damage?” Qrow was irritated at this point, his sister was between him and his booze and she was… crying?

“Qrow it’s happening again,” Raven’s voice wavered as if she was in pain, Qrow hated seeing his sister like this. The last time Raven was like this she ended up leaving her family, Qrow knew and understood why he just didn’t want to see something like that again.

Qrow pulled his twin into his arms as she cried. Qrow recalled being told that what Raven was experiencing was a massive crisis of identity as the deity that Raven both was and wasn’t communicated with her, or did something concerning her.

“S-she wants us to merge back together.” Qrow was smart enough to understand that that was not great news, it had been one of Raven’s greatest fears for a long time.

“Your you, just as much as you are a piece of her remember that.” Qrow had lost count of the number of times he’d had this conversation, both with his wife and sister. Raven had always taken these... instances harder than Summer had.

“I can’t though, I want to so badly but I can’t.” Raven rarely lied so Qrow was inclined to believe her.

“And why can’t you?” There was so much packed into this issue and Qrow had learned to deal with it one thing at a time.

“For so many reasons, first I’m scared Qrow, I’m only thirty, what’s my thirty years of life to her thousands? How little will my life affect her,” There it was the feeling of insignificance, “But the main reason? I can’t just destroy the spring maidens power like that.”

 

(<=Artemis=>)

 

Artemis held a white cloak as she remembered her life on Remnant as Summer Rose. Once Summer died all her power and aura returned to Artemis, who then went and picked a couple of things up specifically the cloak and Summers daggers.

“Why was that cloak so important?” Athena was one of the few that knew of Artemis’s time as Summer, she was also one of the even fewer that know of Ruby. Artemis glanced up at her sister for a moment before returning her gaze to the cloak.

“Rose family tradition, we pass a cloak onto our young when we deem them ready to know and understand the family’s secrets.” The cloak shimmered and disappeared, “They are a part of us, they link us to our ancestors.”

“There’s nothing special about the cloaks though?” Athena could understand the sentimental value behind the cloak she just didn’t believe that it was the only reason why Artemis had retrieved her’s.

“Not always, there is for mine due to the amount of my essence that has flown through it.” Artemis stood up at this point and dusted herself off. Leave it to Artemis to answer the question and completely avoid the purpose of said question.

“Well since I have to be specific with you, what is special about yours?” Athena hated having to ask two or three questions when the first could have gotten her the same answer.

“You mean other than that it is mine?” At Athena’s nod, she continued, “Well it’ll make the wearer harder to spot in a forest, make it difficult to track them and should increase aura regeneration rates for those who use their auras”

“A pure white cloak that makes you harder to spot in a forest, right.”

 

(==5 months later==)

(<=Ruby=>)

 

The hunters of Artemis had arrived at camp the previous night, alongside a group of campers. Ruby thought they were cool, they are her mother's hunters after all. A few of the hunters had commented that they could feel a connection to Ruby that was similar to the one they had with Artemis.

“Ruby Rose, our mistress speaks of thou often.” Ruby turned around and came face to face with Zoè Nightshade, Artemis’s lieutenant was the most likely person to know who Ruby was. Zoè gestured for Ruby to follow her. 

Ruby was nerves, Zoè may know who her mother was. It’d be the first time someone knew that wasn’t told by Ruby herself. The silver eyed girl’s biggest worry about others would react to and feel about her wasn’t the gods, no it was actually her mother's followers. The dark haired girl had led the two into Artemis’s cabin.

“Thou and thy father are the only topics lady Artemis has talked of for over eight years.” Zoè pinched her nose, “It is both refreshing and aggravating.”

“She talks about me?” Ruby looked happy at that as if it was one of her biggest hopes. Zoè scoffed, of course, Artemis talks about her child, all the gods do. It honestly seems like bragging about their children is a hobby for the gods.

“Thy is her favourite topic I swear, it’s like there's nothing else to talk about.” Zoè smiled at the child finding it hard to hate the one who made her mistress so happy. Ruby smiled up at the Huntress, glee clear in her eyes.

“Mama’s the coolest right? She’s the goddess of hunters!” Ruby’s excitement made more sense when you considered that her chosen profession back home was being a huntress. Now Zoè loved talking about Artemis just as much as the next Huntress, however, this was not the purpose of her talk with Ruby.

“That may be the case, But we are here to discuss thou, not thy mother.” Ruby’s face fell at that, apparently, she didn’t think she was as interesting a topic as her mother. Zoè frowned, sure it was hard to think of oneself as more interesting than the moon goddess but surely this girl had something interesting about herself to discuss.

“What about me? Do you want to hear about Crescent Rose?!” Zoè suddenly had the feeling that this was going to make for a long day.

 

(==Days later==)

(<=Yang=>)

 

Tonight was capture the flag against the hunters. Yang’s younger cousin had been trying to get permission from Chiron to take part in the hunter's team, it hadn’t worked and still wasn’t.

“Please Chiron! I could learn so much from them and I can work with the campers any other time, we’ll be here until the end of next summer.” Ruby was desperate and Yang knew why, The wolf wanted to see what it was like to work alongside her mother's hunters. Chiron seemed to have an infinite amount of patience.

“And You have been told that only hunters may be on the hunter's team.” Zoè snorted at that, she had told Chiron multiple times that if a young girl wanted to join the hunters but was unsure then she was welcome to join them in the game of capture the flag, or if they simply wished to see how it worked in the hunt.

“But I can’t join the hunters! I’m a Rose damn it, we have a responsibility to our people!” Ruby covered her mouth in surprise, Zoè shot up with her eyes narrowed and Yang leaned back, she didn’t know the Rose secrets but she knew that Ruby and Qrow knew some of them.

“Do you mean as a Huntress? I highly doubt your ancestors believe you must be one.” Chiron’s words would have rung true if they were spoken to anyone else. Ruby turned and rushed out of the big house, too terrified of revealing anything to remain.

“Ya know, I don’t think either of us will be taking part tonight.” Yang enjoyed the look of approval that Zoè sent her way at that. Chiron may have been a good teacher but he was terrible with kids, or at least those from Remnant.

“Something you need to understand we’re from Remnant and are training to be huntresses and any huntress worth her title will take every opportunity to get better,” At this point Yang got up and began to make her way to the door, “We don’t like that opportunity being dangled in front of us like that.”

Yang stepped out of the big house to find Blake waiting for her, looking just as annoyed as Yang felt. Blake’s ears twitched before she turned, Yang loved Faunus traits, made it easier to read their emotions.

“I take it things didn’t go so well.” Yang knew that Blake was well aware of how things had gone within the big house. Blake likely heard everything that was said by everyone in the building, in fact, Yang would say she did if the look of irritation was anything to go by.

“Chiron just doesn’t know how to handle us, doesn’t know our world well enough to handle us.” Yang was frustrated and she couldn’t do much about it, the camp didn’t have anything that could stand up to her strength so she couldn’t resort to her usual methods.

Blake nodded, there was no one here that would truly understand the four girls from Remnant, though Percy was closest. None of the girls really understood the others at camp either, they had each other though so they didn’t care.

 

(==Later==)

(<=Weiss=>)

 

During the game of capture, the flag Weiss realized something was wrong, what brought her to that conclusion? Well to start Yang and Ruby were playing Remnant: The Game at a point along their patrol route, then there was Blake who was reading one of her damned books in a nearby tree.

And the biggest point to prove how wrong something was, the Oracle made its way to the river to deliver a prophecy to Zoè whom immediately turned to Ruby and informed the young wolf that no, she would not join Zoè on this quest. Weiss was glad Zoè had said it, mostly because Weiss was sure she wouldn’t have been able to.

“Its mama isn’t it,” Ruby whispered to The lieutenant of the hunt as we walked back to the cabins, Zoè only nodded. Weiss, Blake and Yang pulled Ruby in close and decided that it was a good night for a sleep pile.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I. Had. To. Rewrite. The. Entire. Second. Half.
> 
> It was so fucking frustrating, anyway, I won't actually be writing out the cannon Quest as I have no reason to change them


	4. Chapter 4

Artemis idly rubbed her wrist, being chained to a mountain and forced to bear the sky was not her idea of fun. The moon goddess would see the ones who saved her rewarded, especially the sea spawn. He did not hesitate to take her place under the sky and while he didn’t do so only to free her it was still commendable, foolish, so very foolish.

“I will not see the ones who have done us nothing but a service punished.” Summer’s authoritative tone seeped into Artemis’s voice, “That would make us no better than the Titans, this is not the Olympian justice I was taught, nor is it the justice I will follow.”

Few of the other gods realized the full extent of Artemis’s words but the demigods seemed to. Artemis had essentially told the council to reward them or she would. There were few things left for the meeting, Thalia ended up joining the hunt and Precious Jackson argued to spare the Ophiotaurus, he catered to the idea of it being a sea creature. Artemis could tell the boy had much in common with his father and that was reassuring to her, he’d save them all if he kept up the way he was going.

“A lot can change in two years.” Athena didn’t want to kill the child, however, this was more than just Poseidon's son at stake. A short discussion had started at that and in the end, both the sea spawn and  _ Bessie _ were allowed to live.

There was a bang as the doors into the throne room swung open and two young girls walked in. One with long blond hair the other with shorter black hair that faded into a deep crimson. Artemis’s breath caught in her throat at the sight of the smaller girl.

“Mama?” It took everything that made up Artemis not to answer the call of her daughter, and even that wasn’t enough. Artemis stood, Summer’s long white cloak shimmered into existence on her shoulders as she shrunk down to the height of her mortal form. A pair of wolf ears formed on top of the goddess’s head as her hair shifted to match the young girls.

“I’m right here, I’m okay.” Artemis crouched in front of the child and held her close. Artemis looked at Yang, the girl was tasked with preventing this kind of thing.

“I tried, she’s good at getting away from people.” Yang shrugged, “She tricked Weiss into taking her into the forest.”

Artemis sighed, the one place you shouldn’t take a wolf, let alone Artemis’s daughter if you don’t want them to get away from you. Artemis pulled the ten-year-old closer as she turned back to the other gods, she was in so much trouble.

“What is this!” Zeus sounded angry but seemed willing to hear his daughter out. Artemis stood in front of the council as Summer Rose holding her daughter. There were worse ways for them to find out and the timing was good, no one really wanted to do anything against her after she was freed from under the sky.

“This is Ruby Rose, my daughter from Remnant.” Several gods seemed to change their thoughts on the matter, it was well known that Remnant took to the gods differently from Earth. Sending a portion of your power to Remnant could mean it being born into the form of a mortal after all.

“Forty-oneish years ago I sent a portion of myself to Remnant to help out with the Grimm, I later learned that that portion had been born in mortal form.” Artemis took a breath, “Summer went on as a prodigy, graduating top of her class at every school, she was fifth-teen when she was told the family secrets.”

“Which shocked you into revealing your relation to her, didn’t it?” Athena may not share this experience but she had heard the story before

“Yes, her reaction was odd but entirely expected, she demanded to know if I had a part in her success,” Several gods snorted at that, “I told her that I had not and she asked what being a piece of me would do to her.”

Several gods in the room had had similar interactions with mortal portions of themselves and seemed to be reminiscing. Hestia smiled as she thought of Raven and waved to her own daughter.

“I gave her the rundown, forest, night time, better aim you know, then I gave her a lump of Lunar silver just to see what she could do.” There were several gasp and many nods, “She rebuilt her weapon of choice with it and went on to prove that the Grimm can be affected by our metals.”

“That’s really good to know.” Hephaestus had been the main voice of concern when it came to the Grimm possibly coming to earth so to hear that they already had a means to fight them was a relief.

“Summer eventually became worried that her life wouldn’t ultimately matter and my reassurances didn’t help. At least not until I began to explain her relations with each of her friends and family, how proud i was that Summer wore her cloak, how worried I was when one of her friends was missing,” Artemis smiled as she remembered the conversation, “But what really got her attention was when I stopped talking as though we were separate people and started talking as if it was me who was in Summer’s place”

In the middle of a conversation about Summer’s impact on Artemis, the moon goddess had stopped talking about Summer and instead talked as if she was Summer. This event guaranteed that Summer felt important as Artemis hadn’t even realized she had done it. Hard to feel insignificant when a goddess forgot they weren’t technically you.

“Ruby was born when Summer was twenty-one, she had agonized over what she had done, believing she had ruined my longstanding oath,” Artemis took a breath, “She may have been right, could have been wrong but she had done nothing wrong, I could never regret Ruby or the events leading to her birth.”

Few gods could sympathize with Artemis, whether this was due to them not having a mortal piece on Remnant or simply from not having an oath. Not all could even grasp the concept of regret let alone regretting having a child.

“Of course I couldn’t regret her, she lit up mine and Summer’s world like a beacon in an otherwise hopeless world. Ruby’s eyes shine with my power just as they shine with hers, I could never hate or regret something this important.” Artemis’s glare swept the council as if daring them to try and end her child, “And I can never regret what lead to Ruby’s birth as I love her Father just as much as Summer did.”

Silence reigned in the throne room, no one daring to talk. In that moment as her pure white cloak billowed behind her and a child was held in her arms, Artemis looked like she would and could take on the world.

The silence continued to rule until Apollo gasped. Many turned to him few expecting him to break the silence. Apollo looked worried as if whatever grasped his attention could be a big problem.

“There’s been a new prophecy made, and it wasn’t made by any oracle that I know.”

The campers were ordered out at that point. The Olympians had to discuss this new development, and it wouldn’t be until years later that even the gods would have any idea what was going on.

 

(<=Remnant=>)

 

A man with silver hair sat in a chair made out of gears stared at the sheet of paper that appeared on his desk. This wasn’t a good sign, somehow someway the fate of the world had fallen out of his hands, or been taken from him.

“And to think, I’ve dedicated the past three hundred years to preventing them from being brought back.” The man sipped from his mug. He could only see this going poorly, but perhaps he could work with this, maybe he could stop them and prevent the deaths of everyone.

“Or perhaps there is a simpler solution, no matter what the answer lies in whoever thee four are.”

Written on the paper on the desk was five lines, five short phrases with no real meaning,

 

Four called, eight answered

The moon, the owl, the hearth and death’s land

Beast of dark and light and all who oppose

A soul made not born to end a plague of endless hate

Unwelcome brothers return to a world not their own

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Was supposed to be up on Wednesday, but life got in the way


	5. Chapter 5

Over the few months leading up to the year mark of the Branwen cousin’s arrival on Earth, many things happened. Many gods came to a startling conclusion, Artemis couldn’t shut up about her kid. 

Weeks before summer began the four girls from Remnant realized something interesting, gravity dust requires both less aura and less dust for a powerful reaction when used by Ruby. The reaction off of gravity dust was about seven times more powerful than it should have been based on the aura output of Ruby when she triggered it, not to mention the amount of dust she used.

Yang had a similar effect with fire dust and Blake with earth, it was fairly enraging for Weiss. The white-haired Atlesion girl was a dust mage yet her friends seemed more capable than her with specific dust types. The other three were could do things that had taken Weiss months or years of training to do, so clearly they wouldn’t need her help.

“Isn’t the normal aura to quantity ratio for the power of dust two to one?” It was painfully obvious that Yang was going somewhere with this line of conversation, “Wasn’t Ruby’s at like three to one?”

Weiss paused and thought for a moment, that was the lowest the ratio went. Triple the power output of a normal person based solely on aura and double based only on the quantity of dust.

“Holy shit…” Weiss grabbed some paper and did the math really quickly. If Ruby cut the reaction time in half she could double the energy output and if she doubled the aura influx…

“She could achieve the threshold for grav points!” This was incredible! Cutting the reaction time down was simple, the added aura was easy and there were even more ways to improve the output.

“What how could she?” Blake looked at the diagrams and math and reached the same conclusion as Weiss, “If everything is done right with proper procedures Ruby could achieve an energy output of roughly thirty-four times that of normal people.”

“Isn’t that almost double the theoretical output needed to create a grav point?” Yang glanced at the pair with a grin, this was what Weiss loved she just needed a push it would seem.

“It is, this is incredible!” Weiss and Blake were far better at this than Yang so said blonde simply backed out of the room.

“If we infuse it into her clothes we could gain a further twenty-one percent increase to efficiency.”

“Which would allow for output of forty-one times that of a normal human!” Weiss was practically bouncing at this point, with those numbers and properly infused dust, a signal crate of gravity dust could last Ruby the rest of her life.

For Weiss all of this meant one thing, it was time to test the impossible!

 

(<=Ruby=>)

 

Ruby stared down at the pair of Black crystals in her hands as she looked at her friends. The young wolf wasn’t entirely sure what they wanted her to do, but she would help them.

“What do I need to do?” Ruby was excited, she might not know what to do but she knew what was supposed to happen.

“Put a little more aura into the crystals than normal and try to focus the energy into a ball,” The four girls stood in the recently commandeered arena. No one dared get close once they found out the four were working on manipulating gravity, excluding the new sword instructor.

“Done.” Ruby’s bright smile greeted Weiss when she looked up in shock. Floating a few feet in front of the daughter of Artemis was a faint glowing sphere of purple energy. Weiss lightly tossed her pen toward the sphere and marvelled at it as it began to orbit the energy field.

“Perfect.”

 

(<=Artemis=>)

 

“She can manipulate gravity.” Artemis was stunned, her daughter had minor gravikinesis and could enhance it further with gravity dust. All the other gods present looked over at her, none knowing what she was talking about.

“Wait, your daughter?” Zeus seemed slightly annoyed, “The one that tends to disintegrate without noticing it.”

“I only have the one, why are you clarifying?” There were many habits of the gods that Artemis had simply found odd and that was before Summer had re-merged with her. There were a few laughs around at that.

“I’m sorry, did you just say your daughter can control gravity?” Apollo stared at his twin in shock. Artemis nodded, she was just as surprised as her brother.

“Is there anything else that we should know about the child?” Poseidon knew full well there was likely more but also likely knew that they weren’t going to get the answers that they were seeking. It’d be many years before those secrets were revealed.

 

(==Just over a year later==)

(<=Yang=>)

 

Yang stared at the council. This was bad, oh so very bad. Percy had done one of the greatest things imaginable, he got the gods to agree to a deadline for claiming their kids, the problem? All three Remnetin demigods remained unclaimed and were fourteen.

Yang locked eyes with her mother and only thought of how much her mother didn’t have to claim her. Yang understood the pain that claiming her might bring her mother, understood the punishment that she herself might need to suffer. Yang would not resent her mother for not claiming her, never would, never could.

“Yang,” Hestia stood and stared her daughter down, “I am not a coward.”

With those words, Yang was claimed, but it was different from normal. It started as a flickering flame at her feet before it transitioned into a roaring inferno that climbed upwards. The fire crawled along her arms, washed over her chest and engulfed her hair all the while it blazed in her crimson eyes before it exploded even further up and died out quickly.

All that remained of the fire was a blazing symbol above Yang’s head, a hearth. There were gasp all around, none really believing their eyes. Yang saw fear, surprise and rage etched into the faces of many in the room.

 

(<=Blake=>)

 

Blake wasn’t sure what to do, all she knew was that she needed to help Yang. Blake moved forward to help in some way when it seemed her father had an idea to take pressure off of the daughter of Hestia. Hades claimed his daughter.

A shadowy image of the Helm of Darkness appeared above Blake as she moved toward her blonde friend. Blake didn’t really care, she knew who her father was, knew that he cared, she didn’t need to be claimed to know that.

 

(<=Weiss=>)

 

Weiss hadn’t moved, she was far too terrified of what was going to happen to her friends. It wasn't so much that she was worried that she would be killed, Athena theoretically had a way to get out of revealing that she broke her oath. Apparently, Athena didn’t care.

A silvery owl appeared above Weiss. The owl began to move, solidifying as it flew around Weiss and landed on her shoulder. The owl was silver with white highlights.

“Can no one except Hera keep an oath in this family?” Zeus seemed more annoyed than angry. Hera laughed nervously.

“Well, you see, funny story…”

“FUCK!” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okay, so it's not late but whatever, I thought it would be a week ago  
> Ruby pairing is decided, unfortunately, Weiss did not make the cut, Reyna couldn't make the cut so it's down to 2  
> Thalia or Sun, wonder which you all think it will be... (Will not update tags until it's revealed in story)
> 
> Edit: C6 is almost ready already, and I just uploaded this one today... I can't stop


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After the giant war, things finally calm down for the demigods... Mostly

Only a year after the titan war the demigods, both Greek and Roman were recovering from a second giant war. The four girls from Remnant had discovered another Remnetian demigod on the Roman side. Each of the four girls had gotten a gift from their parents as well.

“Not having to reload is very useful for her isn’t it?” The newcomer, a daughter of Mars named Pyrrha Nikos greatly enjoyed watching the others from her home fight.

“Being able to rush an opponent without stopping is Yang’s entire style,” Blake, the only member of the original four not fighting glanced up from her book, “Before she was given the new shells and metal for Ember Celica, the gauntlets were as much a hindrance as they were an advantage.” 

Weiss’s owl dived in a spin, aimed directly for Ruby’s head. Said owl had to veer off course to avoid a silver dagger that had been thrown straight up at it. The wolf pushed up off the ground in a backwards flip to avoid a flurry of blows from Weiss. Ruby landed upside down, eight feet in the air.

“I can’t help but notice the difference between us,” Pyrrha watched as Ruby threw her scythe like a saw blade at Yang, “We both learned the Remnant way but your styles are more fluid, harder to trace and distinctly not roman.”

“While you fight more like a roman version of the Remnetian style.” Blake nodded and winced as a column of fire blasted up between Ruby and Crescent Rose. Yang rushed at her biggest momentary threat and delivered a downward punch that hit open air as Weiss backstepped and pushed off of a glyph to land on another one. Yang continued through her attack and blasted a crater into the arena floor.

Ruby’s eyes lit with silver light as she looked across the battlefield. Rushing forward Ruby planned her next actions out in her head, she pushed off the ground landing on a grav point that tilted with her momentum so she could get higher. Catching her dagger she fired a signal round In Weiss’s direction before throwing it at Yang. The blonde easily knocked the blade to the side and blasted forward in a burst of flame.

Ruby’s glove glowed purple as she poured her aura into the paired gravity dust infused into it and her preferred weapon lurched off the ground and towards her. She grabbed the handle and prepped for her net attack by chambering a round.

“ENOUGH!” Chiron seemed to have gotten word of the battle happening, “The three of you have been at this for almost an hour and have left the arena in shambles.”

It really spoke to how little Hunters thought of terrain damage that not one of the five Remnentian demigods even registered the damage other than for how impressive it was when an attack caused a lot of damage. No camper wasn’t scared when they found out there was a fifth Remnetian, the Romans nearly ran in the middle of planning their attack when they got wind of the four already at Camp Half-blood.

“Anyway, Ruby I’ve been told to inform you that your mother's hunters are coming today and you will be leaving with them in three days time.” Chiron didn’t look happy that Ruby would be leaving.

“Really? YES!” Ruby jumped into the air and didn’t come back down. Yang smiled at this and sat next to her cousin.

“Wow, looking forward to spending a month with Thalia are we.” Yang teased her cousin. Ruby blushed and sputtered, not sure how to respond.

“Honestly Yang, stop the teasing,” Ruby looked up in gratitude, “It’s not like she’ll be alone with Thalia all month, the rest of the hunt will be there.”

Why would Weiss betray her like this? 

“You think she won't find a way to be alone with Thalia all month Weiss?” Blake was in on it to now.

“I need better friends,” Ruby muttered to herself. The wolf couldn’t believe her friends, she was going to learn her family’s secrets and all they could talk about was her non-existent crush. Thalia was pretty, sure but Ruby did not have a crush on her.

“Well, you’ve got me now.” Pyrrha smiled at the younger girl. Ruby looked to spartan of Mistrial over and sighed.

It had been a while since the hunt was at camp and they always stayed in the Artemis cabin, Ruby’s cabin. There wasn’t a lot going on so Ruby went back to her cabin to clean her gear, she needed to find the blueprints for a simple and basic non-custom mekashift weapon as she had to teach the Hephaestus cabin how they worked and how it was done.

“Hey! Don’t touch anything,” Ruby heard Thalia’s voice from inside the cabin, “This is Ruby’s home far more than it is ours and everything in here belongs to her, am I clear?”

“Crystal!” That was Phoebe, “We’ll need to help her clean this up though.”

Ruby stepped through the door to find the hunt standing in the middle of the room looking at all her stuff, none of them were looking in the same direction. Thalia bent down and picked up Ruby’s old hoodie.

“Don’t know why I even have that thing anymore, not like it fits.” Ruby snagged a stack of papers off of Lisa’s favourite bed as she made her way to her desk. Ruby dropped the papers and continued forward until she reached her bed where she hung her daggers and slid Crescent rose under it.

“I see you’ve changed your look,” Thalia observed as she went about picking up clothes and papers from around the room.

Ruby was dressed in a silver shirt spiderwebbed by red lines that broke the silver into rose petals and a pair of black pants. The wolf had a pair of purple glowing bracelets and a black fingerless glove on her left hand. 

“Yeah, it’s all custom too, has to be,” Ruby was on her bed fiddling with the release mechanism for the silver spikes on her boots. Several of the hunters just looked at her at that, none really understanding why or how she would absolutely need custom clothing.

“Why exactly would you need custom clothing?” One of the girls asked. Ruby had forgotten that these girls had no time to get used to the concepts and ideas of those from Remnant.

“It’s all infused with gravity dust, which I use to boost my gravity manipulation abilities.” Ruby didn’t really offer more of an explanation.

 

(<=Weiss=>)

 

Weiss loved her siblings, truly she did, but they were a bit much sometimes. Annabeth and Malcolm were working on a project to find a way for earth humans to use dust due to the mostly unusable amount of aura they could access.

There were few demigods with enough aura to make use of, even fewer that could have anything more than a watered down semblance. Weiss was fairly annoyed at the idea her brothers and sisters had made more progress on auraless dust use in a week than scientist form her home had made in nearly a decade of work.

“It’s difficult to wrap my mind around this,” Weiss looked her sibling's notes over, “Not being the smartest one in the room that is, your notes are easy to follow.”

“Yeah, not being smarter than everyone else tends to take some adjusting for children of Athena.” Malcolm grinned at Weiss while Annabeth merely rolled her eyes. It was interesting being around people that could keep up with Weiss at all times rather than just a select topic.

“So Weiss, you found a way to get away from Jacques yet?” Annabeth was the one to reign in her siblings usually, her favourite method being changing the subject. Weiss had been looking for a way to avoid Atlas do to the man that enjoyed passing himself off as her father while also beating and abusing her for not being his, for not taking after him, for not doing exactly as he told her and most recently for going to camp.

“Yeah, I’m going to stay with Blake for the most part,” Weiss loved her friends and how they all looked out for each other, “Then I’m going to hold up with Ruby and Yang before my older sister takes me on a trip around mistral.”

“Hope we get to meet this asshole at some point.” Weiss knew exactly what Malcolm meant by that and understood that Jacques would not survive the encounter. Turns out Athena kids don’t like finding out their siblings are being abused.

“Yeah, if Frost leaves anything for us.” And we get to one of the main reasons Weiss wanted to avoid her home, her owl had tried, on multiple occasions, to kill Jacques already. Well, Weiss was touched at her owl’s protectiveness it had led to the man putting a hit out on said owl, not the best thing for Weiss to overhear.

 

(==A Week later==)

(<=Blake=>)

 

Yang had gone back home a few days ago, there was no need for her to stay any longer. Weiss was going to be joining Blake in Menagerie, quite possibly the worst choice ever. Faunus wouldn’t take a Schnee in their community's well.

“Ready to go?” Blake glanced at Weiss, the white-haired girl shuffled on her feet slightly.

“No, but if I didn’t go because I was nervous I’d never do anything.” It was a fair point, “And Blake, thanks for getting me out of that fucking house.” 

“No problem Weiss, it’s what friends are for.” Blake stepped through the gate alongside Weiss and found her mother waiting on the other side. Kali moved forward and pulled the two into a tight hug.

“Blake so good to see you! And this must be Weiss.” Kali Belladonna looked nearly identical to her daughter. The woman leads the two younger girls back towards her home.

Weiss had thought Blake was crazy for wearing all black, including her jeans, in a tropical climate and now she thought her friend's mother was even crazier for her dress. Weiss wore a much more reasonable tee-shirt and shorts. Frost was so going to hate the weather.

“I give it a month before he finds out your here Weiss,” Blake called over her shoulder attempting to keep her friends gaze off of the people staring at her.

“A month? Try half.” Weiss knew the bastards information network well, she sabotaged it often enough. Kali laughed from the front of the group, clearly amused by the conversation.

“I’d say a month and a half,” Kali was not someone you bet against, she was usually right.

“Oh hey, mom where’s dad?” Blake was fairly sure she knew exactly where Ghira was, she just wanted to clarify.

“He’s whole again, something about needing his full power to deal with your sister, I’m not entirely sure.” Kali never pretended to understand the family tree of the gods, she felt like she wouldn’t like it if she looked.

“ Melinoe? Is he still trying to compromise with her, thought they worked that out,” Blake liked the goddess for the most part, “That must be giving Nico such a headache.”

“Your brother gets a headache from how dark and depressing the cabin he designed is, that's not really all that telling.” Weiss laughed.

 

(==A month and a half later==)

(<=Jacques=>)

 

“In other news, as it turns out Weiss Schnee has been on Menagerie for the past month,” The Anchor Woman shuffled her papers around, “She gave a short speech at a ceremony recently to assure the people that she was simply visiting a friend from her summer camp. What summer camp she refers to is unknown however it is important to note this camp seems to take from anywhere on Remnant.”

Jacques sneered at the TV, those animals had taken the bitch. He supposed that Weiss would need to be taught a lesson when he went and got her. He would remove the power that she had in the SDC if not for Winter managing to swindle a fifty-three percent stake in the company.

“And the news is calling these beast  _ people! _ ” Jacques was fuming at this point, “They are nothing but animals with no real grasp on society.”

He’d make them pay for undermining his authority. He’d make Weiss pay for daring to go along with them rather than return home, not like she was of much use to him. The freak of nature wasn’t even his, his blood did not flow in her veins and he did not want it to.

 

(<=Adam=>)

 

She brought a Schnee to the only home the Faunus have! Blake needed to pay for this, they are the enemy, the worst of the worst. She was not Blake’s friend and Adam would prove that to her, but first, he’d do to her what she did to him.

“The belladonnas are a problem, they're holding us back,” Adam had lost himself to his anger, his sense of control crumbling around him. Blake had slipped from his grasp and now it seems she was pulling the Faunus out with her.

Adam had no idea the hell he had sentenced himself too. All Faunus, be they a deer or a bird knew one major thing, one thing that could save their lives or be their undoing. One golden rule not to break, one line you don’t cross.

 

_ Never mess with a wolf’s pack. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ... so I have no chill, this was done in 6 hours and 42 minutes AND YES IM AWARE THAT THIS WAS UPDATED YESTERDAY.
> 
> Yes in case you're wondering I have a problem With Jacques, he and Adam should be fun later
> 
> No, I'm not setting up Ruby/Thalia, this crush was planned for this point from the very beginning, but Rulia is on the table still  
> ...  
> ...  
> ...  
> ...  
> ...  
> ...  
> You don't buy that do you?


	7. Chapter 7

Weiss leaned back on her bed with her arms crossed behind her head as she stared out the window. There was a gentle roar of an engine in the distance as what looked like an SDC bullhead came over the horizon.

“Shit.” Weiss had learned one major thing about the people of Menagerie it was that they didn’t take abuse and subjugation well. According to them, Weiss was treated worse by Jacques than most Faunus were. Weiss heard footsteps coming towards her room, likely Blake and Kali.

“Weiss, he’s not getting you out of here if we can help it alright,” Weiss nodded at that thinking about how Kali likely knew better than anyone the hell that man had put her through, “We have a vessel for you prepared if things go south.”

“Thank you,” Weiss hugged the woman, “For everything.”

The people of Menagerie stood for their own, and Weiss was one of them as far as anyone was concerned. She would not be sent back with her tormentor as long as they had something to say about it, and they had a lot to say about it.

Kali stood and left the room, offering a quick explanation of why. The Belladonna matriarch simply said she needed to make an announcement to her people. They had maybe two hours before the airships landed and Jacques demanded Weiss be handed to him.

“I wouldn’t worry too much Weiss, my mother is good at what she does,” Blake held onto her white-haired friend, “I’ll be on that boat with you if you need to leave.”

 

(<=Kali=>)

 

There were few things Kali hated in this world, the  _ carnufex  _ was several of them and he was coming to her kingdom to steal away her daughter’s friend all so he can begin abusing that wonderful girl again.

“Not if I have anything to say about it,” Kali practically growled out, her anger once again appearing to get the better of her. Few knew it but Kali was prone to anger.

“People of Menagerie, the  _ Carnufex _ is coming to our lands to seek one of our own,” Kali’s rage was clear in her voice, “He seeks to drag Weiss Schnee back to a life she doesn’t want, back to a place where she will be beaten again.”

“He can go fuck himself,” One person in the crowd called out, “Handing Weiss over would be the same as handing any faunus over, we will not do that.”

The crowd yelled out their agreement, none of them would hand Weiss over to him like that. Weiss may not be faunus but she had been treated just as bad, the only real difference being that this all happened in her own home.

“The bastard made her more comfortable coming here, to a place full of faunus she must have thought hated her over going home,” There were scattered murmurs at that, “What the fuck did he do to make her choose to come here over going home.”

It wasn’t a question, rather it sounded like the person speaking was trying to rally others behind him. The man's words worked, others began whispering, many recalling things that Weiss had told them of her life as well as points that people had pieced together. There wasn’t a person on that continent who’d sell out Weiss unless you counted Jacques himself.

“There are few things we can do, but we can not allow him to take her.” Kali was not one to stand by while others needed help, she had been a part of the White Fang after all. There were many injustices in the world and it so happened that the plight of Weiss Schnee lined up far too much with the plight of the faunus and Kali could not ignore that.

“We will not send her back to a hell like that,” Kali’s voice rose in volume at this point, “We will not allow our tormentor to be her tormentor any longer, we will defend her as if she was one of us.” 

Kali stared out at her audience, the entirety of Menagerie looking back at her as she ended her speech, her words would, whether she knew it or not, shift the very way of life on the continent for the rest of time. 

“Because as far as I am concerned, She is one of us.”

 

(<=Ruby=>)

 

Ruby Rose stepped off of the boat, her white cloak billowing in the seaside wind. There were many reasons for the young girl to visit Menagerie yet there were also few. The young wolf got many odd looks, mostly due to having no visible faunus traits, as she walked the streets.

Most stepped out of the young girls way, all assuming that she was a Rose and knowing that it is not in your best interest to get in the way of a Rose. There were many reasons to fear the Rose family, chief among them being the incredible combat prowess shown by the family at larger. Many had believed the family had died out and only rethought that idea do to an old saying that hailed from Vale, you’ll know it when you meet a Rose, you just will.

“Can anyone tell me the location of Blake Belladonna and Weiss Schnee?” Ruby looked out at the crowd, annoyance slowly etching onto her features as no one answered, “Does no one know?”

Again came no answer as the crowd simply stared at her, or more accurately, at the airships behind her. Ruby was frustrated, she was looking for her friends and couldn’t get a response from anyone, they were all too busy looking over her head. She had been claimed damn it! Stop looking over her head.

“Holy shit! He’s actually coming,” several voices spoke out causing murmurs to spread through the crowd. Ruby glanced over her shoulder and finally noticed the Schnee aircraft. Ruby stared for a moment longer before she suddenly jolted forward, pushing off the ground she hit a grav point above the sizable crowd and ran, her platform moving with her.

“Shit knew we should have changed plans and shifted locations a week ago.” Ruby was at this point moving at almost twelve hundred kilometres an hour, the girl was merely a blur to everyone and a wall of wind to all as she continued to push herself harder, moving beyond speeds she had ever reached before.

Ruby moved from her gravity platform and onto the ground and kept running. After moments Ruby found herself in the town center leaving a trail of smoke in her wake as she skidded to a halt. No way in Tartarus was she letting that bastard at her friends, not as long as she breathed.

She would defend her pack from anything and anyone, even if she had to fight the gods themselves. Nothing on any planet would get away with hurting them, Nothing. Ruby’s eye’s had a faint red glow and an inhuman growl ripped from her throat as she stared at the SDC ships. Everyone close to the girl backed up in fright at her growl, none really sure what was wrong with her.

“Ruby? Are you okay?” Ruby’s gaze snapped over to the speaker which cause Kali to flinch. Ruby’s silver eyes a lite with their red glow were unsettling, to say the least. Kali had no idea what was making Ruby’s eyes glow like that and she wasn’t sure she wanted to know.

“Where is my daughter?” It would appear the SDC ships had landed. Jacques's yell was harsh and unyieldingly loud, made for a great announcement of his presence however. There were scattered laughs at that.

“Your daughter? Isn’t she part of the military,” Kali looked smug, “You only have the one daughter you know, or did you forget?”

“You stay the fuck away from her!” Ruby growled out, “Leave my packmates alone!”

Jacques took notice of the extremely angry girl with glowing red eyes. Ruby snarled again sounding more and more like a Beowulf as time went on. The head of the SDC took a step back in shock. It had been many, many years since the last time the man had heard that sound come out of a humanoid’s mouth.

“And who are you exactly?” Jacques felt like the girl looked familiar but couldn’t place his finger on it. Ruby pulled her hood down to reveal her wolf ears, Jacques didn’t seem to react at all.

“Oh? Have you forgotten?” Ruby grinned while maintaining her growl, “Have you really forgotten the legends, the stories whispered in uncertainty.”

Jacques’s eyes narrowed, this girl couldn’t possibly know what she was talking about. All the wolves were dead anyway so there was no one to tell anyone about them.

“The origin of all legends surrounding the wolves?” Ruby looked enraged at this idea, “You forgot our ties to the Grimm Queen of legend, the very reason you killed my mother!”

“Your mother? There shouldn't be any wolves left,” Jacques wasn’t happy to hear that he had apparently failed to kill the last of the wolves.

“Yeah, next time you try to eradicate a species make sure the final member hadn’t had any children first,” Ruby looked ready to pounce at that moment, “And look at that, you're not prepared to fight a wolf, Leave.”

Jacques stared the girl down, his family had spent years working on eliminating the wolves. This girl was the only thing he hated more than the faunus, she was a creature of Grimm and needed to be eradicated for the good of humanity.

“Do you think they will help you? Believe that you have a right to live?”  Jacques snarled at the cloaked child, “Not a person on this planet would protect a Grimm and yet you think you have any rights?”

“Whether they would protect me or not is irrelevant, I will protect the people of Vale with my life,”  Ruby leaned closer her hands twitching at her waist, “The Duty of a Rose is to protect our people whether they believe in us or not and your not of Vale so I am not obligated to protect you.”

There are few things that the head of the SDC could say at that moment. The man had one of the deadliest creatures known to man basically threatening him when he was unprepared to fight her. It was a Grimm, a soulless beast and yet the public would allow it to live, and Jacques was the only one that would do anything about it.

“Weiss is not your daughter so stop acting like she is,” Ruby looked the man in the eye, “And stop pretending that Whitley is a Schnee while you're at it.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tag update time!
> 
> I will be taking on an additional project for Persona 5 as I started playing that last week and couldn't stop until recently and really want to write a fic for it
> 
> So yes, Ruby is a Grimm and Descendent from Salem, not sure what I'm going to do with those four girls from the Jinn flashback though, they may have survived
> 
> Now onto an interesting fact, the scene where Jacques realizes Weiss was on Menagerie went through three iterations, the first a world where Whitely didn't exist had him muse that Weiss was only useful for producing an acceptable heir while mentioning the lack of blood ties between him and her, I decided this was a little too far and changed it to the second version where he starts to think of this and dismisses it immediately because he refuses to mix his blood with that of a freaks
> 
> The third actually included him resolving to kill her later that year before I decided to remove that (Whitley does exist in this one) which shortened it and lead to me writing the Adam bit
> 
> Just to be clear, the version of Jacques I am making is still as bad as that one from the first iteration just in different ways


	8. Chapter 8

Ruby sucked in a breath. There were many things she wanted to say in that single moment. Jacques simply stared in shock, how could this child know one of his greatest secrets. Ruby smiled, she had just gotten confirmation of one of her biggest theories after all.

“Stop spouting nonsense you beast,” The white-suited man seemed enraged at this point, “Weiss is as much my daughter as Whitley is a Schnee.” 

“Wow your an idiot,” Ruby laughed, unable to believe Kali was calling the head of the SDC an idiot, “Ruby quite literally just said that.”

“Now as I’ve said before, neither of your children are here so leave, your not wanted here,” Kali’s glare was intense, so much so that many people would take a step back in surprise and fear. Ruby growled when Jacques didn’t move.

“She said leave, or would you like to start an international event?” Ruby’s words didn’t seem to affect the man so she tried different ones, “Or maybe you’d like to learn exactly why my family is so respected.”

Jacques made the smart move and left. Just as the much-hated man went to reboard his airship he made one last comment over his shoulder.

“Your days are numbered wolf, we can’t have a monster like you just roaming around,” Ruby grinned and gave her family’s standard reply to a threat of that nature.

“Looking forward to it.” Ruby turned around once Jacques was gone, “Kali Belladonna right, we’ve got a lot to talk about.” 

 

(<=Weiss=>)

 

Weiss sat on board a boat alongside Blake as she awaited word on their departure. Ruby was supposed to come to guide them back to her home but they may miss her now.

“Looking forward to seeing Patch?” Blake was attempting to get Weiss’s mind off of the SDC CEO’s arrival on Menagerie. The pair had heard a lot about the island off the cost of Vale.

“Yeah, still wondering why Ruby keeps telling us not to freak out when we meet the rest of the  _ pack _ ,” Weiss didn’t think their de facto leaders family could be all that bad.

“I’m just honoured that she said  _ rest of _ ,” Blake like most Faunus knew that to be pack was to be family and had to be earned, “But yeah it is a bit odd, I know her father's a bit of a drunk but it can’t be that bad.” 

 

(<=Qrow=>)

 

Qrow would much rather not be where he was. He was lucky to not have been drunk when he got home to find his daughters…  _ friend  _ in the living room. How the seven-foot beast got in he wasn’t sure, nor was he sure he wanted to know.

“Holy fuck how do you keep getting in,” Qrow couldn’t kill the thing for so many reasons, “I need a drink damn it.”

The beast just glanced at him before laying down to sleep on top of what was once a coffee table. That would be the fourth one since Ruby left for camp that year.

“Wait shit, the pups friends are coming today.”

 

(<=Blake=>)

 

“Good news girls, The carnufex is gone!” Kali climbed on board the ship, “Although, you’ll be leaving on this vessel anyway for simplicity sake.”

Ruby followed her on, her hood once again up. The wind lifted her cloak and made it clear that she was likely the most well-armed person on the continent at that moment.

“Do you leave any weapons behind when you go out?” Ruby looked genuinely confused by Weiss’s question. 

“Why would I do that?” Ruby glanced at Blake as if asking for help, “I can’t use them from home if I’m not there.”

“I mean, that’s fair,” Blake looked out at the water, “But I really don’t think you need to be armed to the teeth like that.”

“No sense not being armed to the teeth,” Ruby shrugged and sat down while they awaited her friend's things being brought to the boat, “Anyway, onto the topic of the pack, it contains the three of us, my dad, my uncle, Zwei, Yang and Thalia.” 

Weiss and Blake glanced at each other. There is no way that list was worrying Ruby, something else was there. “And to tell you the last member I have to go into the history of the wolves.”

And so began an epic retelling of the rise and fall of the wolves… well mostly the fall, okay practically just the fall. It wasn’t Ruby’s fault that the wolves seemed to think their rise wasn’t as important as the fall.

“So a big part of this is how ancient faunus tended to avoid ‘crossbreeding’ so a change in a specific subset of Faunus would quickly spread through all of that set in a few generations,” Ruby took a breath as she prepared herself mentally for this, “Well that’s exactly what happened to the wolves, one of the Grimm Queen’s descendants, we’re not too sure-” 

“WAIT! The Grimm Queen? Like the legends?” Weiss looked panicked, “B-but wouldn’t that make you at least part Grimm?”

“Huh, yeah, so anyway, we aren’t sure which of her kids/descendants first got with a wolf but we think it was a few of them. Eventually the wolves started to defend the people from the Grimm which lead to them integrating with the rose family, this went on until all Rose’s were wolves,” Ruby looked enraged by something at this point, “And then the hunts started, someone found out about our rather Grimm heritage and decided that we needed to die.”

“They just started offing you? That’s it no questions, nothing?” Blake couldn’t believe it, people just killed the wolf Faunus's because they may be part Grimm.

“Yeah, took 'em ten years but they wiped over three hundred of us out. After that it was a slow trickle for almost a millennia, and then five hundred years ago we went into hiding, we didn’t do the best job there,” Ruby looked nervous about something here, “Us hiding only really slowed it down until it was just me and my mother, she made sure they wouldn’t know I was born. That worked out for the most part but it ended up getting her killed.”

“So what does you being part Grimm mean exactly?” Weiss looked curious, as it turns out going to camp on a yearly basis tended to make one a little more open-minded.

“Well the final member of the pack is a Beowulf that mom trusted to protect and guard me back when she died,” Blake really should have expected that, “But mom says I do get some cool powers from it, dunno what but I can eat negativity, somehow.”

“Ruby, your ridicules you know that,” Weiss got up to help load her belongings onto the boat.

“Won the power lotto and lost the happy beginnings one!” Ruby called after the girl.

 

(==Half a year later==)

(<=Ozpin=>)

 

“Do we have any clues at all on the prophecy?” Ozpin wasn’t one to leave a puzzle unsolved, especially when said puzzle seems to be spelling out the end of the world.

“The first line ‘Four called Eight answered’ sounds pretty cut and dry, the problem comes in on knowing what the eight are,” Glynda was frustrated at this point, they had made almost zero progress on this.

“Well, what do we know that comes in fours?” Ironwood wasn’t incredibly involved in things but he tried to help, “The teams we set up, the schools-”

“Nah, your thinking too small, the relics and maidens,” Qrow took a drink from his flask, “I mean think about it four called, who do we know that called for four of anything? And eight answered it’s right there.”

“It could also refer to the next line, ‘The moon, the owl, the hearth and death’s land’ Four called.” Ozpin leaned back, it was too vague he couldn’t work with it like this.

“I might know something there, let me see what I can dredge up,” Qrow likely wouldn’t find much, Ozpin knew it was more than a matter of finding the info.

“The next line seems rather clear, The Grimm, hunters and something new,” Ironwood sighed, “Why can’t they all be simple.”

“This is worrying though ‘A soul made not born to end a plague of endless hate’ the hell could that mean?” Qrow didn’t like how vague that could be, “Salem? The SDC? White Fang? Racism? Just humans? All of us? The brothers? There’s too much it could be and not enough certainty.”

“I believe I know the soul made not born bit,” General Ironwood wasn’t one to allow the end to come if it meant everyone dying, “I’ll send over as much on project Penny as possible.”

“You do that, But we know the brothers will return, and it seems like fate believes they have no claim to this planet,” Qrow smiled, he liked that so very much.

“You are not telling the brother gods to fuck off just because a prophecy says they aren’t wanted.” Glynda’s word was final, except for when it comes to Qrow and likely all related to him. Qrow’s smile never faltered which was the most worrying part of that meeting. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Took a while this did
> 
> Anyway, the next chapter should be the good stuff and by that I mean the RWBY stuff rather than the build to the RWBY stuff
> 
> And What you thought the prophecy was vaguely cut and dry? well, you're wrong, it means everything, yes that means Penny goes on a mass killing spree like the killbot she is...
> 
> Nah, she's getten religated to Mimir duties, still a killbot though
> 
> And yeah Qrow knows full well what line two means and there's no way in fuck he's telling oz that his daughter's mother is a god from a different planet/universe


	9. Chapter 9

Yang stared at her right arm in shock. She couldn’t believe what she was seeing, was it even her arm anymore? The young blond had simply been sitting outside her family home awaiting her cousins return with their friends when her thoughts drifted to her mother, Raven. It was as her anger towards the mortal piece of Hestia grew that Yang started to feel something akin to her flames rush through her arm.

That was odd, her fire flowed around her and pumped through her veins right alongside her blood but it never touched her muscles. And so Yang looked down to see what was going on only to be met with an odd sight. Her arm was gone and in its place was a gold and bronze scaled limb from her elbow down. Instead of a hand, she had some kind of paw with finger-like appendages, three of them alongside her thumb, each ending in a three-inch claw that looked like it could cut through solid steel. 

“What the fuck?” Yang muttered as she continued to stare at the limb. It felt powerful, like all the muscle in her body coiled into a single limb which only served to increase her bewilderment. Yang was fairly sure Hestia had nothing to do with… Dragons? Yeah, dragons, definitely dragons. 

“Hey, Firecracker…” Qrow practically froze when he saw his nieces arm, “...Huh.” 

It wasn’t every day that your niece partly turned into a dragon, Qrow was expecting a bird to be honest. This could cause problems but at the same time Qrow could see her muscles contracting through the scales ever so slightly and that gave him a thought. How much of a strength boost would she get from the dragon limbs? As a brawling fighter who primarily used punches, this was massive.

“Alright kid let’s work this out,” Qrow ran a hand through his hair, “Hopefully this is still similar enough to me and Rea turning into birds.”

 

(==Around a year later==)

(<=Ruby=>)

 

Stupid police, she was stopping the robbery not helping the crooks. The questions weren’t going anywhere and no matter how many times she told them she wasn't an accomplice. Just because she was a faunus at a crime scene some cops thought she must have been a criminal.

“Gods damn cops,” Ruby knew she just got unlucky with who was dealing with her. There were like three racist cops in the city of Vale and she got them all. When Ruby thought about it, she had really been lucky that word hadn’t gotten out about her being a wolf. Racism, as it turns out, could be helpful for the hiding wolves due to no one really announcing the subraces of faunus they talk about.

“Come with me,” The blonde from the roof placed Ruby’s weapons on the table, “I refuse to work in an environment where a huntress in training has her equipment taken from her merely for being a faunus.” 

That implied that she’d be okay with Ruby’s equipment being taken for any reason other than her being a faunus. What surprised Ruby was that her gear was taken specifically because she was a faunus, that included her boots damn it!

“And they admitted this to you?” Cops weren’t exactly forthcoming with hunters in general, made things a nightmare for hunters sometimes.

“They are the kind of people that think all the important people agree with them,” In reality most hunters didn’t give a shit if you were human or not, “Luckily hunters outrank the police when it comes to terrorism and the Grimm as well as internal affairs, care to guess where this case falls?”

“Internal affairs?” Ruby wasn’t so sure this case actually classified as hunter business but not like she would dispute that. Hunters were technically outside the law in that they had to obey them but police didn’t deal with any cases involving hunters, it was an odd system but it worked.

“A case of accused vigilantism that is, in reality, self-defence and technically legally pre-job work experience,” Glynda smirked to herself, “That second one is harder to spin but we could if necessary.”

Ruby glanced at the woman in mild surprise. Sure the white cloaked girl knew that hunters bent the rules a bit, hard not to when your job description is literally  _ “Public Defense” _ . Being a Hunter was a balance between what is right and what is legal more than a balance of right and wrong.

“You applied to Beacon, right? Alongside three others, each of you demanding the acceptance of the others,” Glynda’s glare was intense but it had nothing on the Rose look, “While also declaring yourselves to be on a single team.”

“I was under the impression that the section labelled  _ ‘Special Notes’  _ was to be used,” Ruby grinned up at the blonde, “Or do you just put that there cause it looks nice?”

“No, however, I’m certain that ‘Doesn’t fucking matter’ is not an answer to how old are you,” Oh so the woman had read Ruby’s application then, interesting, “The headmaster would like to speak to you, please don’t give him any ideas.”

Ruby was going to give the man so so many ideas. Ruby stepped into the room she had been directed to and came face to face with professor Ozpin of Beacon Academy.

“Hello Ms. Rose, It’s nice to meet you,” Ozpin took a sip from his coffee mug, “You and your friends seem adamant that either all four of you get into my school or none of you do, could you tell me why?”

“We are a team, a unit,” Ruby stood with the confidence of her family behind her, “We work best together, know each other and our weaknesses, we can fight around each other, we believe we would be held back by a team of any other.” 

“In what way would you be held back?” Ozpin leaned forward, not many people claim that other students would hold them back, “It seems like a rather arrogant claim to make doesn’t it?”

“Not really, we’ve trained together for six years or so at this point so we can’t really work with a whole new group,” Ruby shrugged, there wasn’t much to it really. “Four years isn’t much compared to our six and we really don’t want to start over with a new group or even a new member.” 

“Yes I suppose that is fair, I wanted to inform you that you were accepted and your age on the forms remains unchanged,” The grin on Ozpin’s face was devious, “It seems not telling a huntsmen academy your age is technically legal.”

“That’s probably an issue,” Ruby turned to leave, “Thank you, professor.”

“I see potential in you Ms. Rose, no need for thanks,” Ozpin smiled as he stood from his seat, “Oh and Ms. Rose, what are your thoughts on the idea of killing Grimm with overwhelming positivity, it’s quite a wondrous idea isn’t it? Killing the Grimm with but a look.”

Ruby froze at that. He knew, he knew what she could do and seemed to believe she didn’t. Well if he thinks she doesn’t know why not confirm that, After all, he shouldn’t have that knowledge.

“If only we could, it’d certainly make our job easier,” Ruby continued on her way, this couldn’t be left alone. Where did the headmaster get that information, why did he assume that she didn’t know what she could do. The redhead’s biggest question, however, was why he accepted her without issue, she was expecting more resistance.

“I’m in but we have a problem,” Ruby had brought her scroll out and called her friends, “Ozpin knows about my eyes and thinks that I don’t.” 

“How the hell does he have that knowledge?” Yang wasn’t privy to all the rose secrets but she did know a few, “Why would anyone tell him that.”

“That’s not important,” Weiss made sure that the only information on the group that gets leaked is what they want, “The question we should ask is that if he knows of Ruby’s silver eye’s ability why didn’t he say anything?”

“One could assume an ability to kill Grimm instantly would be something you’d want the holder aware of,” Blake’s voice came from Yang’s end of the call, “Plus you know, your hunted merely for having silver eyes so not telling you about it only causes you a disadvantage.”

“That is true, not informing Ruby would likely lead to her death,” Everyone was angry at that prospect but none quite matched Yang.

“Shit!” Blake screamed as Yang’s hair ignited, fire flickered across the blonde's form.

“Winter says we’ll be back on Patch tomorrow so we can discuss this more than,” Weiss had been gone for almost six months while exploring Mistral with her sister, “That gives us about two months of training together, Just to be clear, we aren’t going to camp correct?”

“Not this time, too many preparations needed here and specialized training that dad wants to put us through,” Ruby didn’t like not being able to visit the camp but they did need to train more, “Said he’s got something for each of us individually.”

Yang paled at that, she knew exactly what Qrow would work on with her and it would likely be hell. Yang could still only turn her right arm into the limb of a dragon, her left only changed due to her anger still.

“Oh no,” Yang fell back in her seat, “This is gonna hurt isn’t it.”

 

(==weeks later==)

(<=Yang=>)

 

Yang used to think she knew what pain was, she believed she understood a level of pain beyond normal standards. She was wrong, so very wrong. Her muscles ached, her mind ached, her soul ached, her aura was almost completely depleted and somehow even her god's damned fire ached.

“Oh holy shit that hurts,” Yang had been training all day while working on her dragon transformation. The blonde had improved slightly, she could now get her right arm up to the shoulder to make the transition as well as her left hand.

“Come on! Natural weapons are good but you gotta get that strength in there!” Qrow called as he rushed her. Qrow’s training methods were brutal as he believed in on the job training and kept at it all day.

“I’m trying! Damn it!” Yang screamed as she rose her right arm to block her uncle's sword. Yang hadn’t been allowed her own weapons which left her to block all the blows from her uncle with her scales. Yang’s scales could take more of a beating then her aura could.

“I’m literally burnt out here!” Yang tried to ignite a fire along her arm only for it to sputter and die, “You’ve literally pushed me to my limit! Let me stop!”

“If you're at your limit then we haven’t gone enough!” Ruby watched her father and cousin fight, it had long ago stopped being a spar. Yang took a step back, she needed her fire damn it! Without Ember Celica and her semblance, she had nothing but her fire and she’d pushed that to its limit, she needed fire. Yang was desperate because either she won or succeeded in transforming her arm, there was no passing out.

“Come on, You’ve already done it with your right!” Qrow pushed towards Yang once more, he knew she wouldn’t get it earlier, she wasn’t in the right mindset. Yang needed to be pushed into a corner, needed to be desperate otherwise, she wouldn’t manage. Yang worked on instinct not thought, she moved from position to position, attacking openings all without a thought.

Yang’s eyes were wide with terror, her fight or flight response had been triggered. Yang didn’t see her uncle at this point, she just saw a man with a sword coming at her while she was practically defenceless. She needed fire! If she had some flames, any flames she could fight back but as it was she was limited.

Fire sparked around her left arm and up her throat as she tried to force it out, make it flow faster and harder. The fire leaked from her veins through channels of magic that she didn’t even know she had. The fire shifted within her throat and with a breath Yang roared. The roar was accompanied by a jet of superheated white flame from her mouth and once the jet cut off every breath was accompanied by smoke and a flicker of flame.

“Stay Back!” Another lance of fire was released from Yang’s mouth. Qrow dove to the side to avoid the flame, this was unexpected. The scythe wielder had to end this now.

“Yang! Enough!” Ruby was suddenly there, right between the pair her arms spread wide and none of her weapons on her. Qrow recognized what she was doing, Summer had done the same for their daughter on a few occasions.

“It’s Qrow! Family, he means you no harm,” Ruby took a step forward, she had to get Yang under control, “Come on Yang, you can recognize us, right? It’s me, Ruby.” 

“Ruby?” Yang stared at her younger cousin for a long moment. The small flickering flames around the blonde slowly died out and her draconic parts transitioned back to human.

“Oh fuck, that hurts,” Yang collapsed. Qrow scrambled to his feet, he drove these girls hard, far harder than strictly necessary. Ruby had a powerful enemy gunning for her since day one and Qrow knew Yang would want to be by her side every step of the way so he pushed them to be better than their best.

“Shit!” Qrow may have finally pushed too far in his attempt to draw out and help his niece to control a power she had inherited.

“She’s fine, exhaustion coupled with strain on her divine abilities,” Weiss was crouched next to him looking Yang over, “She’ll need a couple of days rest, and it seems the main culprit of this is creating and using a fire gland.”

“Her body was at its limit, she shouldn’t have even been able to do that,” Blake was there now, “But then again, we are demigods, we don’t like being told no.”

Ruby piped up at her fathers look of confusion. “Demigods tend to respond to life and death situations by killing the situation, we sometimes draw on the godly might of our parents to do so but that doesn’t make it so our bodies can take the strain.”

“The rest of you back to training, I’ll make sure Yang gets rest,” Qrow lifted Yang up and went to take her to her room. Ruby went back to training her control of gravity while Weiss went on to practice summons. Blake was working on reaction time in order to make full use of her semblance on top of dust.

They had two weeks until entrance exams.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was important, the actual entrance exam will be next chapter, was supposed to be here but I got carried away, sorry
> 
> 1 down, 2 to go for this week


	10. Chapter 10

Ruby took a deep breath and committed Yang and Weiss’s current base scents to memory. Ruby paused as a set of particular smells hit her, they were all so familiar. Among the eighty-seven applicants to beacon Ruby could smell the sun, two people who smelled of ozone and two that smelled eerily similar to Blake, except one scent smelled of death far stronger than Blake, which was odd. Blake smelled more of death than a corpse did and someone here recked of death more than that. There was also one other scent, it smelled a bit like… No way, Hera? Nah, it couldn’t be.

“Ehm, A few last minute notes, there are only twenty-eight possible slots available in our first-year program,” There were murmurs at that, “Ah yes, at least fifty-nine of you will not be getting in.”

“Keep in mind that there are no guarantees of us accepting any of you,” Glynda stepped forward, “We will also be monitoring you from here, any behaviour we deem unfit for a huntsman may lead to your immediate failure.”

“The first person you make eye contact with upon landing will be your partner for your stay at Beacon, whether that's for this exam, a week or four years is yet to be seen,” Ozpin paused for a moment. “Do not hesitate to kill everything in your path, otherwise they will kill you.”

“Please keep in mind that anything that happens in this test matters and that we can overrule any occurrences,” Glynda glanced down the line and took a few notes down, “This is your one warning, We do not tolerate unprovoked attacks against fellow test takers.”

Ruby crouched down and lightly ran her hand over the metal plate she stood on. She could feel the forest, the unending energy that nature provided in the back of her mind. The redhead couldn’t stand still for long, she needed to move, to run. The longer Ruby stayed in place the more claustrophobic she felt, this felt unnatural, this needed to end. Students were getting launched into the air at this point.

“Oh what the fuuuuuuuuck!” Ruby’s gaze snapped to the sky, she recognized that voice. Ruby couldn’t see the person to confirm but she knew that voice. Blake was launched, followed by Yang and Weiss.

The group had a plan, Yang and Weiss would wait in an area for their faunus friends to find them. The pair of Faunus had far superior senses of smell than their human friends which left them to find Yang and Weiss.

 

(<=Blake=>)

 

Blake hit the ground and paused. Taking a breath through her nose she quickly picked up Yang’s trail and rushed towards its origin. There were few Grimm on Blake’s path and the ones that did get in her way were weak and easy to kill. Blake heard the dull thud of a Grimm’s claws on Yang’s scales which meant she was close.

“HA! Can’t even hurt me,” The area was suddenly lit up by the white gold flames of Yang’s dragon breath, the blonde had likely just incinerated a Grimm or two. Yang was by far the least subtle of the group.

“Yang!” The blond turned. Yangs right arm was covered in scales as was her shoulder and neck, the scales trailed along the edges of her face as well. Yang grinned at Blake which revealed her currently sharp teeth.

“Hey, good to see ya,”  Yang waved, the remains of what little blood Grimm have evaporating off of her claws. Blake rolled her eyes.

“Yang, we were supposed to hide our impossible abilities.” 

 

(<=Glynda=>)

 

“What exactly is Ms. Xiao-Long’s semblance again?” Glynda frowned as she watched the girl battle a group of Ursai. The blonde’s records made no mention of scales or claws, and while her records did mention a lot of fire that was described differently and certainly wasn’t fire breath.

“Not that,” Ozpin looked at the forest where the golden glow of Yang’s dragon breath was visible, “This will be an interesting year, mark Ruby Rose and Weiss Schnee down as partners will you.”

“Sir, that is highly irregular and I fail to see why you would want me to do such a thing.”

“Also, put them together on a team, should they pass,” Ozpin grinned, “Though I find myself doubting that the four of them won't.”

 

(<=Ruby=>)

 

Ruby’s feet hit the ground and she paused. Taking a deep breath the redhead grinned, this was where she belonged, they were on her turf now. Ruby opened her eyes to reveal the faint silver glow that had also spread to her aura, making Ruby’s body as a whole glow faintly.

“Ohh, this is nice,” Ruby pulled Crescent Rose from her back and fired a shot behind herself. Her semblance and the shot for her scythe quickly accelerated her forward. Ruby had already got a lock on Weiss’s position so that was where she was going.

Ruby made quick work of the few Grimm she encountered. Watching the girl made it seem like she knew exactly where to place her feet for each move. It was like Ruby knew the forest inch by inch, every move calculated, every landing planned. It was like the forest was her ally, no it was as if the forest belonged to her.

“Weiss!” Ruby came to a halt in front of her friend, “Great! Now we need to find Blake and Yang so we can pass this exam.”

Ruby couldn’t stand still, she was constantly bouncing around. Ruby didn’t get to spend a lot of time in a forest anymore due to how hard it had gotten to keep track of her and how much energy she got from being in one.

“Di Immortals, how did we forget this,” Weiss groaned, dealing with a hyperactive Ruby was never fun, dealing with a hyperactive Ruby in an environment where she could practically vanish on command was unbearable.

“Don’t know seems pretty difficult to me,” That voice was eerily familiar, as in shouldn’t be in this forest let alone on this planet, “How could you possibly forget the moon goddess’s daughter’s connection to nature like really come on.”

“Thalia! What are you doing here?” Ruby was suddenly in front of the daughter of Zeus.

“Me, Reyna, Will and Nico were sent because of a prophecy, We’ll tell you later,” Thalia idly twisted her bracelet, “Well since we know you can, did you smell any demigods?”

“Other than us and Pyhrra? Three, one smelled of death even more so than Nico and Blake,” Ruby rubbed the back of her neck, “And one that smelled of ozone and the sky.”

“That’s not possible, dad told me that if he had any kids over here they’d be no older than eight,” Thalia paused before groaning, “Norse probably, which means child of Thor likely.”

“There was one other, the smell reminded me of Hera but there was an underlying scent, one that I’ve only smelled on the Romans,” That was an irregularity, Hera was the least likely goddess to have demigods children and there were a lot of reasons for that.

“Wait, what gods kids could smell more like death than a child of Hades?” Weiss may be the daughter of Athena but that didn’t mean she knew everything. 

“Thanatos, Meliano, I’m sure there are others,” Thalia shrugged, there was a lot the demigods didn’t know, “Hey Weiss can you scout ahead a bit?”

Weiss moved ahead of the group assuming that Thalia had something to talk to Ruby about.

“Sooo,” Thalia rocked back on her heels, “Haven’t told them yet have you?”

“No,” Ruby sighed, “They tease me about it enough as is, though I think Yang knows.”

“Course she did, that girl knows romance almost as well as the Aphrodite kids,” Thalia wrapped an arm around Ruby’s shoulders, “Kinda freaky to be honest, she gets romance better than Piper.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, this was supposed to be longer but I'm not feeling it right now and this isn't a bad place to leave it
> 
> next chap is on Friday but no later than Sunday, see ya then
> 
> Updates might be infrequent after that due to a pokemon project and random my hero academia one-shots, plus my mlp quad arc project remains unfinished but I am on break from mlp writing... FUCK! I became one of those authors, fucking shit damn it!
> 
> And yes I went Ruby/Thalia, sorry to those that didn't want that but i put sun with someone else


	11. Chapter 11

Blake stared at her brother. Why was Nico there? As far as Blake was aware their father needed the goths help.

“The prodigal goth roams Remnant! We need to document this,” Yang swung an arm around her new partner. Nico seemed annoyed at that. The son of Hades had long accepted that the demigods of Remnant would call him that but would always tell them off.

“Not a goth,” Blake laughed, she heard this many times.

“Sorry to say but you are,” Nico glared at her, “And Hazel agrees.”

“Yeah, thanks for that by the way,” Nico had regretted introducing his sisters almost immediately. The pair were devious, even if they didn’t show it and their favourite target was their very own brother.

“Well anyway, what’s my little brother doing here?” Nico glared, he knew full well Blake meant literal little brother and was not referring to the age gap, that was a mess in a half.

“Apparently we have a nephew that Meliano can’t seem to locate,” Yang blinked, that was odd. The last time Melinoe had a kid they died almost immediately and she had given up, as the stories say.

“And he survived? How? Do we have a location?” Blake had noticed her many times over older sister seemed a lot happier in the weeks leading up to her return to Remnant after the giant war. Nico took a step back with a grin, as he always said the people of the underworld cared about each other, despite what some might say.

“We know he’s probably here,” Nico glanced out at the forest, “Will followed me, I’m not allowed to know why Reyna is here yet, and the four of us were given a task related to a prophecy, Not entirely sure if Thalia has any other reason.”

“Great just what we need, a prophecy,” Yang groaned and tossed her very normal human arms up, “Let me guess it mentions us by name this time?” Nico kind of shuffled on his feet and Yang gaped at him.

“Not exactly, It mentions your parent's domains,” Blake sighed, this was the exact reason the four girls had returned to their home, to avoid prophecies.

 

(<=Weiss=>)

 

Weiss took no issue with being asked to scout ahead by Thalia. Next to Ruby the daughter of Zeus was probably the best hunter on the planet, in every way except maybe Grimm slaying, there had to be others with silver eyes after all. Thalia was the only one other than Ruby that could give her orders, however.

“The temple seems to be over-” Weiss froze when she arrived back in the clearing, “WHAT ARE YOU DOING!”

Thalia and Ruby jumped apart at Weiss’s scream. The white-haired girl had been gone for no more than five minutes and she returns to this!

“We’re in the middle of a Grimm infested forest!” Thalia had few things to fear, Annabeth had ensured that a ranting child of Athena was one such thing, “You couldn’t just wait until we got out of the woods could you, no you had to make out now AFTER you sent your only possible guard away!”

“It’s been almost a year since we saw each other last Weiss, cut us some slack,” Ruby leaned against a tree. The redhead wasn’t afraid at this point as she knew the only thing Weiss would do was yell at them.

“No, we are all going to attend Beacon and while I don’t know how long Thalia is to stay I’d imagine that she would like to finish the four years,”  Weiss sometimes found her leaders capabilities and attitude should belong to different people, “The temple is this way and I think Reyna’s over there as well.”

Ruby and Thalia followed after Weiss. Weiss quickly went about setting up ground rules with the pair. Some rules to keep them in line, some for her own comfort and one or two for the comfort of her friends.

“Okay first of all,” Weiss glanced back to make sure they were listening, “And I can’t believe I’m already establishing this, no sex in our dorm, do it in Thalia’s or something.”

 

(<=Ozpin=>)

 

This was an interesting development. It would appear that the mysterious girls that disappeared each summer and the four with no past and very little of a paper trail knew each other. This year was shaping up to be rather interesting, especially with Amber’s condition and Qrow’s refusal to talk about his daughter and her friends.

“Ms. Belladonna and Mr. Di Angelo appear to know each other,” Glynda and most teachers at beacon knew to keep an eye on the more interesting students, “And Ms. Rose knows Ms. Grace well… Oh.”

“Yes it seems odd that Ms. Belladonna and Mr. Di Angelo refer to each other as siblings when neither is mentioned in the others records,” Ozpin glanced at Glynda’s tablet, “Huh, well now.”

Ruby and Thalia were dating as it would seem. Ozpin was starting to really wonder where the four girls that demanded to be on a team vanished to each year. Ozpin had looked into records for his other applicants and found that Pyhrra vanished each summer as well and Nora and Ren were unknown after their village was destroyed.

“It will be an interesting year indeed,” Ozpin was viewing the other two unknows via the monitor, “A very interesting year.”

 

(<=Reyna=>)

 

This planet had serious issues, but at least they were proactive and actually working on most of them. Reyna slammed her spear into the side of a Beowulf's head and drove her dagger into the base of its skull. Bellona’s daughter wasn’t a fan of the racism but understood why the hunters didn't seem to do much about it, they had other problems.

“They can’t even end this threat,” Reyna recognized the unending war for what it was, unwinnable and if Hunters had a say, unloseable. It was a stalemate with neither side giving in. Another wolf was coming at her, this one seemed to learn from its predecessor and ducked her spear to swipe at her.

“Stop.” Reyna recognized that voice, the daughter of Dia- Artemis. The Beowulf froze in place before a bolt of lightning struck it down.

“You good Rubes?” That would be the daughter of Zeus, Reyna’s partner for this mission. The cloaked demigod staggered on her feet slightly.

“Yeah, exerting will like that takes a bit out of me,” The redhead leaned on Thalia for support a moment longer, “Doesn’t help that it only works on Beowulf.” 

“I’d imagine. Hey, Reyna looks like we’re partners,” Thalia waved the woman over with a grin. Reyna had found Thalia relatively easy to get along with, most of the time. It was hard sometimes to remember that Thalia’s father was the king of the gods, just as it was hard to forget Diana’s threat to the Romans concerning her daughter.

“So we  go to the temple pick up a relic and head back,” Reyna shrugged, seemed too simple for her, “There has to be more to it right?”

“Nope, hunters don’t really operate like that,” Ruby rushed forward to reach the temple as quick as she could. The faster they finished the better grade they could get. Yang, Blake, Nico and Will appear to be waiting for them at the temple.

“Hey! We’re all here now, great,” Yang waved the group over, “These seem to be the relics we are to retrieve.”

Yeah would seem so,” Ruby walked around the ring of pedestals. The redhead snagged the black knight pieces, pocketing one and tossing the other to her cousin. Ruby moved on and tossed the white knight pieces and passed them to the other two pairs of demigods. The group heard something that was akin to trees being knocked over.

“What was that?” Reyna had her spear in hand as soon as the sound was heard. Demigods tended to associate unknown sounds with monsters, monsters likely meant death. Thalia tapped her bracelet to bring out her shield and brought her own spear out. Nico drew his sword and Will readied his bow.

“Probably Grimm,” Ruby hopped off the raised platform that the temple was, “If it is we need a plan, Yang hit ‘em with everything you have, Blake we could use one more here, other than that standard formation.”

Yang’s grin was borderline maniacal as her arms shifted to a draconic state and her fist and feet ignited. Blake brushed a hand past a diamond in one of her cat ears and brought both hands to the ground before a skeletal hand tore through the earth and pulled the rest of it up.

“Let’s go!” Yang’s sharp teeth made her smile incredibly terrifying.

“Anyone have a spare sword, I have something that might be useful,” Reyna’s grip on her spear loosened slightly.

“I should hold on,” Thalia quickly checked her gear for her unused sword which she quickly found, “Yeah, here it is.”

“Thank you,” Reyna took a breath and watched the tree line. As soon as the first of the Grimm broke the tree line Reyna twisted her spear in hand and drove the tip into the ground, A brief wave of energy passed over the group. Yang’s fire grew in size and brightness, Ruby’s silver aura grew slightly wilder and Weiss’s glyph was a little brighter.

“What was that?” Ruby looked bewildered.

“I call it ‘Declaration’ it allows me to give energy to others, more than I could normally but it cost me my spear while in use,” Reyna took the sword and prepared to fight.

“Cool, Yang take the Deathstalker, Weiss Beowulves, Blake take the Ursai, I’ve got that Nevermore,” Ruby pushed off the ground and bounced off a series of glowing purple platforms. Reyna moved forward to attack alongside her own team.

Yang blurred forward and drove her right fist into the side of the deathstalker. The armour cracked and Yang’s flames reached through slightly causing the deathstalker to flinch away. Weiss was practically bouncing from Grimm to Grimm, never stopping always planning her next move.

Blake moved along the battlefield using both her skill and semblance to dodge strike after strike. All three forbidden children seemed untouchable on the battlefield and while they each had their own target they helped each other. The most awe-inspiring one of the group, however, had to be Ruby as she danced through the air around the nevermore. The redhead kept her landings brief and avoided the Grimm’s line of sight in such a way that made it seem like she had trained specifically to fight one.

In the end, the attack consisted of far fewer Grimm then they initially thought and they ended it rather quickly.

 

(<=Ozpin=>)

 

Ozpin stared at his screen in shock. Most of what he was seeing should be impossible. He had never heard of granting your allies strength by sacrificing a spear for the duration of the effect, there was something here that he was missing.

“What the hell?” Glynda watched as Blake summoned and animated a skeleton to fight alongside herself, “What’s wrong with these kids?”

Ozpin and Glynda watched Nico vanish into a shadow and come up on the other side of the clearing, two skeletons flanked the boy. Thalia would linger in the air for moments longer than she should and call down lightning, or channel electricity through her own body, it was as if the sky itself belonged to her.

“Truly remarkable,” Ozpin was watching the feed of Ruby. At first, both the headmaster and his deputy had believed the girl had worked out some form of flight before she lingered on a platform for longer than a moment. The redhead's cloths glowed faint purple throughout the battle and she threw her weapons away on a regular basis.

“Is she making grav points and gravity platforms?” Glynda was flabbergasted, she knew dust mechanic quite well, “That’s not possible, the known math equates the input cost to do that as well above what is humanly possible.”

“Hmm, this group, I wonder,” Ozpin watched one of Will’s arrows exploded into a wall of sound moments after Blake had fallen into the shadows of the trees in the same area, said girl lunged from the other side of the clearing a moment later, “How they managed to keep themselves hidden all these years.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was due for yesterday but I wasn't happy with it, still aren't
> 
> The fight is not extensive as the end of the chapter was more to focus on Oz and Glynda watching the demigods work
> 
> Thalia and Ruby should be fun, a lot of fun
> 
> Anyway, let me know what you think, no seriously I like hearing from viewers/readers, it lets me know what I'm doing right and wrong and the general thoughts on things
> 
> (Part of the delay was caused by pokemon Insurance, awesome game especially as it's a fan game)
> 
> Also, I'm curious how many people actually read these notes so if you comment and did read this: 01205684


	12. Chapter 12

Ruby, Weiss, Blake and Yang stood on the auditorium stage. They did it, they made it into Beacon. The four had trained long and hard for this and now they were one step closer to being full huntresses.

“Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, Blake Belladonna and Yang Xiao-Long the four of you retrieved the black knights and demonstrated considerable ability in the field, from this day onward you will be team RWBY lead by-” That’s as far as Ozpin got before he was interrupted by Weiss.

“Lead by Ruby Rose,” Weiss glanced up at the headmaster as if this event wasn’t worth her time, “We are aware, move on.”

“Ahem, well then, Will Solace, Nico Di Angelo, Thalia Grace and Reyna Ramírez-Arellano the four of you retrieved the white knights and showcased considerable ability individually, from this day onward you will be team WNTR lead by Reyna-” Ozpin once again found himself cut off, this time by Reyna.

“No,” Reyna’s arms were folded over her chest, “I can lead a military force or a militaristic team, but for the kind of operations hunters do and the size of a signal squad coupled with the low government influence, for that, we need someone like Thalia.”

Thalia made to argue the point but Reyna beat her to it, “Plus, Thalia is a hunter by nature, she has the kind of experience with this kind of operation that I just don’t.” Ozpin smiled, it was nice having students that recognized their own faults and could admit someone may be better suited to a task then themselves.

“Very well then, Team WNTR lead by Thalia Grace,” there were many reasons for why one would make a good leader and Ozpin felt that Reyna was right, Thalia was a good fit for the role. These kids were getting rather interesting as time went on.

 

(==Later==)

 

Ozpin was sorting through specific request from the new students. Special accommodations, comfort request and simple modification approval request. There were some odd ones in the batch but nothing super major, then he got to team RWBY’s request. There were a lot.

“Bunk beds, due to previous sleeping accommodations, I don’t see why not. Permission for one to three pets, exact figure unknown, I was unaware that they needed to ask. Easy access to the forge and gym, of course, no one wants those rooms anyway. Kept in close proximity to both teams JNPR and WNTR, odd but doable,” Ozpin had foolishly believed that to be all, “All shipments from the following address be delivered directly to us without the contents being directly handled by anyone, I’ll see if that’s doable while still doing the safety search. Zero information about anything odd concerning the team is to make it to the public, standard policy anyway. Qrow Branwen gets hired on as soon as possible, I’ve been trying for years, although, now is the time where I’m most likely to succeed.”

Most requests were granted for all teams, except for a few. One team wanted a full wall aquarium and another wanted a balcony. None of the dorms had balconies, why would you think they would just build one.

 

(<=Ruby=>)

 

Ruby took a quick walk around her team's dorm building, finding it fit all of their specifications. The forge was necessary due to Ruby being the only person on Remnant qualified to work with divine metals, Weiss and Blake could work with them to a degree. Blake was better with Stygian Iron, both Gamble Shrode’s katana blade and cleaver scabbard were made of the Underworlds metal.

Yang was the only one allowed to work with Hearth Forged Invar, mostly because no one else could touch the stuff. The invar burned anyone that wasn’t a child of Hestia and was unbearably heavy, unbalanced and dull in the hands of anyone else if they somehow managed to hold it.

Pyrrha wasn’t allowed at a forge with anything other than Imperial Gold and even then she needed to be watched. Reyna had helpfully informed Ruby that the reforging process for Pyrrha’s weapons had taken nearly twice as much gold as it had any reason to.

Then there was Ruby’s metal of choice, Lunar Silver. The most difficult and annoying metal of them all. Lunar silver started off as normal silver, Artemis, and now Ruby had to put in a lot of work under the light of the moon to bless the silver and then they could only forge with it at night. It was a pain but being arbitrarily the most useful of the divine metals it was worth it.

The gym being nearby was mostly a plus for Yang but Ruby’s upper body strength was important, Crescent Rose isn’t light. Weiss didn’t use it for much more than a fairly standard workout, Blake, however, while she didn’t use it as often as Yang or Ruby, still used it. Blake was mostly training her strength due to how she wielded her Kusarigama, or well that was the closest approximation Ruby could find for what Blake’s weapon was.

“Hey, Rubes!” Yang called out as she approached, “How’s the forge look?”

“Understocked,” Ruby snorted, this was nothing compared to camp, “I may need to build an entire set up for mine and Thalia’s arrows, damn it.”

“You use a bow?” Yang wasn’t aware her cousin had yet another weapon, “I thought Ebony, Lunaris and Crescent Rose were all you had.”

“Oh they are, I’m trying my hand at mixing my mothers woods, strings, metals, and magic with Remnant tech,” Ruby grinned up at the blond dragon, “It’ll be so awesome! And a pain because I can only work on it at night.”

Yang shook her head, the young redhead was one hell of a weapon nut. The girl's experiment did sound interesting though, maybe Yang could do something with a little extra Invar. The group was meeting up with WNTR and Pyrrha to discuss the unknown demigods that were at Beacon, so this line of conversation couldn’t last. The cousins made their way back to RWBY’s dorm room.

“So we are aware of three others in the school, correct?” Weiss was sitting on her bed. Yang and Blake were on their own beds while Nico and Will sat together. Pyrrha and Reyna were slightly off to the side, each taking a post on either side of the door. Thalia sat under the window with Ruby’s head was resting in her lap.

“Yeah, one smells of ozone, another like Hera and the third reeks of death but not the underworld,” Ruby didn’t move from her position as Thalia ran her hand through the girl's hair, “It’s weird, the smell of death seems to come from Jaune.”

Blake and Nico nearly jumped at that, neither could believe Blake had missed that. If Jaune was their nephew that would save them a lot of work and time. Nico Looked… Not happy but not as unhappy as usual.

“Really? Nico think he’s…?” Blake glanced at her brother. Jaune may not even know his heritage, which could cause them an issue. The group then needed to go over the other two demigods.

“What of the others?” Yang leaned over the edge of her bed as she looked between Blake and Ruby. Ruby’s sense of smell was far better than everyone else's and had likely noticed something that no one else did.

“Well Nora smells heavily like ozone and nothing like a greek or roman, but there’s also a faint smell of Hera on her,” Ruby was sad to admit she hadn’t really paid all that close of attention to the demigods she smelled.

“Leads me to believe Ren’s the third,” Blake still wasn’t sure about the underlying roman smell alongside Hera’s.

“Why would Juno have a demigod child though?” Reyna couldn’t figure it out, it went against the image and domains of the Olympian queen, “She the goddess of marriage and she had an affair, and then there’s the fact that she isn’t fond of most demigods.”

“It might be the same as the reason for why Ruby and Yang are here,” Will had spoken up, “We can’t rule out this happening without her knowledge.”

“That’s true, Diana escaped any real judgment do to Summer only being a piece of her,” Pyrrha observed, “And you know, the fact that she was just imprisoned under the sky only hours before the reveal.”

“Don’t remind me please,” Ruby hated the days leading up to that with a passion, “And I can’t think of why Hera would want a piece of herself over here anyway.” 

“Juno, there is a difference, the biggest being Juno doesn’t hate me with every fibre of her godly being,” Thalia corrected her girlfriend, “But your point stands, why would Juno send a part of herself over here.”

“That’s the biggest hole in this, but we need to figure out what the Norse are doing on Remnant, both the barrier and portal are Olympian, greek to be specific,” Reyna frowned, “Why are you all so proud of that anyway?”

“Maybe because we linked two separate planets, you know not like that’s a big deal or anything,” Thalia rolled her eyes at that, “Yeah, totally not the biggest feat of magic ever, even the Egyptian mages have no idea how we did it.”

“Alright, so anyway who will we speak to first? Jaune or Nora?” Reyna looked around at the group. Blake and Nico shared a glance.

“Blake and I will speak to Jaune,” Nico stood and stretched, “Thalia, Ruby think you can talk to Nora?”

“Yeah, makes sense, children of the sky and all that,” Thalia yawned, “Tomorrow though.”

“Yeah, And sending me to discuss this with the Norse demigod, why?” Ruby looked to Nico, the boy had experience acting as a representative in a community, doing it with the Romans for the underworld.

“Your the closest thing we have to an ambassador from the camps and since she’s using the barrier and portal, which are Greek, this needs to be dealt with,” Everyone nodded at that, “Remnant is technically Greek territory and the deal that allowed the Norse to cross over has been broken, by the Norse.”

“Damn it, this could be war,” Weiss seemed angered, Athena may be a war figure but that didn’t mean she liked it, “Why would Thor do something like this?”

 

(==The next day==)

(<=Ruby=>)

 

Ruby was nervous, today she and Thalia were going to talk to Nora. A conversation that could go horribly wrong, so very very wrong. It could mean war and it was all down to what Nora said.

“Nora Valkyrie correct? We need to talk to you,” Thalia placed a hand on the girl's shoulder, “Valkyrie huh, rather nice coincidence isn’t it?”

Nora is visibly nervous as her arms spark with electric sparks, which only served to make Thalia’s grin widen. Nora had basically confirmed their theory about her, that meant either something odd had happened or Thor had broken a treaty with the Greek/Roman gods.

“Oh, so you are, interesting,” Thalia began leading the girl alongside Ruby to a separate room, “Makes one wonder, you know, why is a daughter of Thor on Greek territory.”

“Hm, it is odd you know, the portal is Greek controlled so I wonder how Thor even got over here…” Ruby mussed, Nora looked scared and angered at that.

“HE DIDN’T!” Nora yelled, “He didn’t come here, mom went there.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yo, Check out Summer Last Stand, it takes place in this universe
> 
> Hope you enjoy, got a lot planned for the coming chapters, V 1-3 are fairly short and likely 1-2 chapters for that... then there's v4
> 
> Anyway, the story of Nora's mother may be done as a separate one-shot like Summer's death was
> 
> I have plans, and to be clear, Nora and Ren's canon backstory is still the same
> 
> Thanks for reading  
> 10174509


	13. Chapter 13

“Your mother fell through?” Thalia looked terrified by the implication, “Oh no, no no no, this is so bad.” 

“Nora that portal is meant to keep anything with no ties to earth here,” Ruby looked to be near panicking, “For it to have failed without the gods knowing is so bad, that means the Grimm may have access.”

“And they don’t have a means of fighting them off,” The implications seemed to finally reach Nora.

 

(==Later==)

(<=Weiss=>)

 

Weiss wasn’t sure how things had gone with Jaune, no one talked about it. Everyone preferred to talk about Cardin and his absolute idiocy, the arrogant bastard had decided to be a bully and a racist piece of shit. Weiss wasn’t one to sit by on injustice but Cardin was slowly building a case against himself, one that team RWBY would likely use to get him expelled, that is if Ruby could hold herself back long enough.

“I’m gonna kill him,” Ruby’s growl was very far from human at this point. Both team RWBY and WNTR were aware of the Rose clans penchant for protection, far more than the public was at least. 

“Can’t let you do that,” Yang wasn’t exactly the most level headed person but she was capable of handling their leader, “Can’t risk you going to prison, not with the shit we have resting on our shoulders.”

Ruby’s growl quickly approached the sound of a Beowulf in full rage as Cardin pulled on a rabbit faunus’s ears. Weiss nodded to Blake and together they corralled Ruby out of the room, the team was having a four-way free for all in combat class and figured that prepping for that might distract Ruby. Cardin would not survive the year at this rate.

“So… Anyone else terrified of Ruby?” Jaune received several nods from his team, “Not just me okay cool.”

Thalia watched team RWBY as they left. Ruby was a terrifying monster on the battlefield but there was more to it than that. Artemis had given Ruby political training, on a royal level and Thalia wasn’t informed why. That political training was probably the most terrifying thing about Ruby, mostly because Remnant was very different from earth.

 

 (<=Ruby=>)

 

Ruby took a breath, she was in the combat arena, each of her teammates stood around the room waiting for the signal from Professor Goodwitch. This is where they could go all out, no worries just the four of them.

“And, Go!” At Goodwitch’s call, Ruby moved. Before Weiss had time to truly react to the call to start Ruby was in front of her. Weiss barely had time to block the blow from Crescent Rose. Ruby seemed to be showing off, well then Weiss would as well.

A wall of glyphs formed a dome over the arena and Weiss launched herself at the nearest. It was a trick that would only work for so long against her team but it allowed her to land a few glancing blows and granted her a bit of time to think. Ruby flicked to one side as she blasted toward Blake to dodge Yang’s flames. The group had ten minutes, that meant they were barely putting on a show. 

Ruby needed to close the distance on Yang but the blonde’s fire wouldn’t allow that. Ruby’s solution to the problem was to throw her scythe at it. Yang had to quickly step to her left as the six-foot tool of death flew at her only to have to duck as Gamble Shroud came spinning right at where her head was. Ruby made to advance, taking advantage of the opening Blake haad made when she had to dodge a burst of lightning as Weiss flew past. 

Free for alls were a pain. Ruby pulled Ebony our and fired a shell towards Yang just before she had to block Blake’s clever. Pushing off the ground Ruby hit a grav platform and rushed Weiss, Ebony and Lunaris brought together into their sword form. Weiss rolled to the side as Ruby buried her blade into the ground. Weiss moved to jab Ruby in the side with Myrtenaster only to be met with a cloud of Rose petals.

“Shit,” Weiss set to work coating her blade in a sheen of lightning and preparing to canvas the area in ice when both Ruby’s weapons burst apart. Blake and Yang were back to back as they watched the cloud, both more concerned with not being beaten than with beating each other. Movement flickered at the corner of Yang’s eye and she brought her fist down on it, her fully draconic fist. Ruby squeaked as she flickered and moved to her left. Yang’s fist met the ground which shattered the earth under Yang’s feet and sent a shockwave rippling through the rest of the arena. The brief shockwave was enough to unbalance Weiss while Ruby jumped to her feet.

Ruby’s eyes had a distinct red glow as she rushed Blake. Rose petals lingered in the air and neither of the redhead's weapons had reappeared so Blake was unsurprised to see the shadowy claws of a Beowulf slashing at her as Ruby approached. Blake blocked the first slash with her katana before having to quickly bring up her clever to block the second. Blake aimed with Gamble Shroud and prepared to fire a round at her leader.

“Time!” Glynda called out, she knew team RWBY was good but this was ridiculous. The arena was decimated and likely unusable for the rest of the day, just great. Glynda should have known this would go wrong after only two minutes.

“Could anyone inform me of anything that any member of team RWBY did wrong?” Most of the class seemed stunned at the idea that RWBY did anything wrong, “Yes Ms. Ramírez-Arellano.”

“There was a lack of organized thought, minimal thought went into things ahead of time, but that’s likely do a difference in ways we were taught,” Reyna shrugged, she was roman so the fact that planning didn’t have a big part was annoying.

“Ms. Grace, you have something to add?” Thalia glanced over at the teacher.

“Yeah, Ruby’s main fighting style is mid to short-range, specifically mid-range so she should have made use of that, no one on her team has very good potential against mid-range fighters,” Thalia glanced down at the group, “As a whole, they didn’t have enough time to really get going so it’s hard to judge.”

“That is an interesting assessment, anyone else?” Cardin's hand was up, Glynda sighed, “Yes Mr. Winchester.”

“They didn’t capitalize on their leader being so inexperienced,” Cardin was leaning back in his chair, “You’d think they’d want to take out the easy target after all.”

“Easy target? I’d like to see you say that after she lays you the fuck out,” Weiss didn’t censor herself, didn’t see a point, “Why don’t you just go fuck a cactus, it’ll be as productive as your being now, if not more so.”

“Ms. Schnee!” Glynda didn’t seem very angry, “I can’t condone your use of curse words, however, I am not allowed to tell you that you can’t speak like that, all I ask is that you be more respectful in the future.”

The rest of the class sat in stunned silence, none truly believing what they had just heard. Weiss Schnee was cursing, the world must be ending in their eyes. Weiss for her part rolled her eyes.

“I’ll try I guess,” Weiss’s response was half-assed and sarcastic.

“Ms. Grace raised an excellent point, this fight was rather short so we couldn’t truly understand what the group did wrong,” Glynda gestured towards the four girls, “Their fighting styles could very well address any issue we point out, we can all stand to learn something here from our classmates.”

 

(<=Ozpin=>)

 

Ozpin in his pursuit of answers had come across something rather interesting, Team RWBY and Pyrrha’s weapon blueprints were off when compared to the weapons they used. The first odd bit was the set of three blades on Crescent Rose, the blueprints labelled them as steel but that made no sense when it came to the black body and silver edge and the emergency back up blade was in fact steel. The steel blade they had didn’t behave the same way as the one attached to the scythe, for one The blades glowed lightly when exposed to moonlight and for another, there is no evidence of Ruby altering the colour of the metal on the blade that was in use.

Ember Celica was even more odd, it was listed as being a mix of materials for different parts but evidence pointed to the contrary. Whatever the gauntlets were made of gleamed with unnatural orange-red light even through the golden yellow paint, it was odd and made Ozpin think of the fire that Yang could produce. Then there was the fact that Yang had sixteen sets of shells for the gauntlets when she arrived at Beacon, that number had not changed despite Yang using shells and not crafting more, something was going on there.

Myrtenaster was by far the simplest, it claimed to be steel but had a lightly glowing bronze blade, there wasn’t even an attempt to hide it as if Weiss was daring someone to look into it. Ozpin believed Weiss Schnee likely knew of his investigation and where it would lead, unfortunate.

Then there was Gamble Shroud, it’s blueprints were incomplete, however, Ozpin was certain the original material in the blade didn’t glow a faint purple. Where did one get metal that glowed purple though? And how did Blake Belladonna retrieve such metal?

Pyrrha Nikkos weapons were made of gold and not the steel bronze mix that was stated. A truly terrible choice Ozpin thought, at first, and then Pyrrha had demonstrated that her weapons were even more durable than that. Why did these five have new and interesting metals? And what were those metals? Could he get some for others to use?

“Sir? I’ve come up with an idea after watching team RWBY in action,” Glynda strolled into the office and paused at the set of five blueprints laid out on the table. Ozpin looked up at that, had progress finally been made? Would he get an answer or more questions?

“Well do go on, I’m afraid I’d consider them being time travellers from before the loss of magic at this point,” And Ozpin was serious, it was as likely as most of their theories. Qrow didn’t help much and he was the best when it came to mysteries, he just sat in the back and laughed. The drunk knew something.

“Do you remember the legends of the Veil?”

 

(<=Across Vale=>)

 

The Vale News Network flashed to life as Lisa Lavender appeared on the screen. Lisa looked serious and both the emblem of the council and the old royal family of vale appeared behind her, both emblems were heavily obscured and hard to make out exactly. The news broadcast garnered instant attention merely because of the royal emblem.

“Earlier today the council once again tried to place faunus control methods in place across Vale.” Lisa brought her hands together, this wasn’t a comfortable subject, “They claim this is due to rising White Fang activity and the danger that the fang poses to the public.”

Lisa took a breath, this was a difficult subject to grasp and talk about. She had been given the all-clear to say what she wished, the VNN would support her fully. The VNN was well known for their blind hatred of racism and discrimination, none in the company more so than Lisa who at a time went to fang protest.

“This is not the case, Fang activity is at an all-time low. The council claims that the dust robberies are a concern, I would like to inform you all that the dust robberies were a concern months ago but we now have evidence of the Fang’s involvement in one of dozens of thefts, the fact that the council is only concerned now is concerning in itself,” Lisa took a pause, let her words sink in, “Of course the other concerning thing about the council is their seeming lack of power as their bills for faunus control were once again rejected by the representative of the mysterious ‘RR’ or as they are commonly known, Royal Regent, It is important to note that RR did not tell us what RR stands for.”

Lisa brought a hand up to her ear as she received a message from her boss. Lisa looked shocked for but a moment, then the anchorwoman grinned.

“I’ve just been informed that Kali Belladonna, the current chief of Menagerie’s greater populace, happens to be on Vale soil due to a planned visit with her daughter, who’s attending Beacon Academy. Kali has called the studio way in on our topic,” Lisa made a gesture and Kali was patched through, pleasantries were exchanged, “So Kali, I understand you were at one point a significant figure in the Fang’s leadership, what changed?”

“Oh, I’d love to say any number of things to make myself seem nobler but the truth is the organization simply got too large, I couldn’t handle the level of stress that came with a leadership position of a global organization of that size,” Kali laughed at that, “The current and slightly more violent leader was actually very reluctant to take over, she feared she would lead the Fang along the path that the council thinks their on.”

“And she didn’t?” Lisa’s question had a bit of bite to it.

“No, not at all, I don’t agree with all her actions but she'd far prefer that amount of Dust in the hands of Hunters over her own or even the Fang’s,” Kali sighed, “Sienna believes respect comes from strength but she recognizes that the Fang can barely defend themselves from Grimm and would much prefer to let the Hunters do their job.”

“Oh, well that’s interesting, Just a few more questions, what do you think is going on with the Vale branch of the Fang? And what are your thoughts on RR and their actions?” Lisa wanted as many voices talking about this ‘RR’ as possible.

“The vale branch is under new leadership, and it’s not good, I’d urge any members still loyal to Sienna to talk to the police, even anonymously. The current leadership of Vale’s branch will get innocent people hurt, both humans and faunus,” Kali seemed to consider for a moment before dropping the biggest bomb she could, “And about ‘RR’ well, It’s nice to see them active but disappointing that the council did so poorly as to make the Queen take control, at least partly.”

The line went dead and several in the studio went silent at that. Vale hadn’t had a ruler since the great war and now they find out it was simply because the council was doing a good job, for the most part.

“W-well you heard it here first folc- Hold on,” Lisa turned and watched as one of the interns bolted into the room, he ran over and passed her a sheet of paper, “Oh! We have a statement from our new queen, hoping to clear the air. Her message is as follows: People of Vale, I on behalf of my family before me apologize for our absence and my continued absence, I am giving the council a chance to prove they can lead us and so do not plan to reveal who I am, the council isn’t doing too hot at the moment however. My family went into hiding after the war because the council systematically saw to the deaths of every one of us, starting at the furthest from the throne and working their way up from there, My great great great great grandmother, the queen at the time had to fake her death and go into hiding, she worked to destroy any record of her children's names so as to prevent them from being found. Again I apologize but we were hoping to be unneeded, clearly, we are.”

That was it, the first royal statement from the new Queen. The council would not be able to recover from this. The monsters that lead the world and kept the peace had annihilated their royal family and sat back and watched the Mountain Glenn incident even after numerous warnings, they could not survive this at least not on Vale soil.

 

(<=Penny=>)

 

Penny Polendina, a bright red-haired young girl watched the news broadcast with terror. She wasn’t human but rather a robot and technically council property, they could use her to attack Vale or worse have her hurt Ruby. Penny believed it was a mistake to build her so human-like at times, what use was panic to a robot? None that’s what and yet here we are, with a panicking robot.

“Penny! Come on we have to go!” General Ironwood rushed into the room and lightly pulled Penny out, “We have to get you to Beacon, it’s a no-fly zone for the council, has been forever.”

So that was the goal, keep her out of the council’s hands. Penny supposed it made sense, neither her father or the general hand ever liked the idea of her being used as a weapon. A weapon, that’s all she was to the council, stupid council how could they think she was a weapon? Weapon’s don’t get horny!

 

(<=Roman=>)

 

Huh, well that's a thing. Vale had a queen again, could be problematic. Roman may be a terrible person and all-around bad guy but he was still Valian, he took pride in his home. The only reason he was working with Cinder was for freedom and a lack of being killed by her so if the queen called he’d answer. Vale was a kingdom that guarded their own, even criminals, no one has sacrificed no one left behind. The council tried to get them to forget that, all of this was why Roman usually stole in other kingdoms and brought the profits home with. Roman smiled as he turned around, oh yes he cou-

“Holy sweet fucking god!” Roman nearly jumped the table due to the figure sitting no less than three feet from him. The woman had black hair that seemingly faded out to red, her eyes were pure red pools of glowing energy. Her grey and Black combat gear screamed hunter but the knife in her hands screamed RUN!

“Hello Roman, we have much to discuss,” Roman had never felt more threatened by the prospect.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, It's kicking off soon, next on the docket is a brief clean up then the tournament/dance we all know how those went
> 
> this was fun, do not expect 3000-word chaps regularly, most of this was written today and I had to sit back a moment when I stopped, what'd you all think?
> 
> Hm, what about the Penny scene? Oh, I have no idea what you're talking about
> 
> If you're wondering My notes do say RR stands for Royal Regent, so now I can't recall who was supposed to be queen, shit.
> 
> Ozpin may figure this out... or die trying
> 
> Now onto writing the next chapter!
> 
> If you read the note: 75386687


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Read the note at the end, it'll contain some important info

Glynda had to pause as the VNN flashed onto the screen. The news station quickly made their displeasure at the council known and talked briefly about ‘RR’. The broadcast ended with a letter from RR, the new queen.

“Hm, well then, I suppose we need to bar the council from accessing the school entirely,” Ozpin turned back to the blonde teacher, “Anyway Glynda, you were saying?”

“Oh what, oh yes,” Glynda seemed to snap from her stupor, “The legend of the veil, well four portions mostly, The silver hunter, The warrior owl, The guard of hell, and The flame of home. Each member of team RWBY seems to have something in common with them, Ruby Rose and the Silver hunter both seem to have dominion over the night and move through the forest like they’ve been there their whole lives. Weiss Schnee and the Warrior owl are incredibly smart each able to commune with owls and fight with brutal efficiency and strategy. Blake Belladonna and Hell’s guard can raise the dead and travel through shadows. Yang Xiao-Long and the Flame of home produce control and are unaffected by fire, both also have this aura about them that just makes being around them feel like home.”

“Hm, that does fit,” Ozpin stood from his chair to look out his window, “But it raises further questions, those entities are from another planet and haven’t been seen in a long time, why are they back?”

 

(<=Yang=>)

 

Ruby wasn’t sure what the looks she was getting were about, at least not until she saw the news. The report was about the activities of RR in the government and went on to reveal her as the queen. Everyone likely thought it was Ruby do to her initials. Yang was starting to get annoyed with the stares and whispers.

“I don’t get it, Blake aren’t you next in line for the position of chief?” Blake glanced up from her lunch, her ears twitching slightly.

“Yes and no, my mother could still be challenged for the position, but I see your point,” Blake glanced around the room, “I’m the closest thing to known royalty on the planet and no one cares, would rather whisper about someone who’s initials had come up as the queen.”

“Who cares really, not like any of them can prove it,” Weiss as the only member of the group that was used to this kind of treatment was able to shrug it off, “Even if their right, what do they think will happen? Her admitting to it, even though the queen stated she’d rather not need to take over fully.”

“Where is Ruby anyway?” Blake hadn’t thought of it until now but she hadn’t seen Ruby for most of the day.

“Date Night,” Yang seemed mildly annoyed at that, “Though what they're doing for date night at ten in the morning I don’t want to know.”

 

(<=Ozpin=>)

 

Ozpin stared out at the emerald forest with a frown. The headmaster's mug sat forgotten on his desk. Ozpin leaned down and pressed a button on his desk, a button that opened a direct line to Glynda.

“Glynda, I need you to remind me of something latter,” Ozpin heard a distant crash behind him.

“Oh, what now?” Ozpin watched several trees fall over in forever fall. Glynda heard the sound as well if the shuffling from her end was anything to go on.

“Ms. Rose and Ms.Grace are no longer allowed to have ‘Date Night’ in forever fall,” Ozpin watched as a new clearing was made, “And speaking of forever falling, it needs maintenance.”

 

(<=Nico=>)

 

Nico was fully aware that the children of the gods didn’t always get powers from their parents. Ren seemingly got nothing from Juno and Nora could control lightning-like Thalia, that was probably dangerous with her semblance. Jaune was confusing, he didn’t seem to inherit anything from his mother but his aura levels exceed Ruby’s, which shouldn’t be possible. Nico knew Ruby’s aura level, her silver eyes, Grimm heritage and being the firstborn of Artemis had caused her to have an absurd amount of aura, Jaune had none of that.

“So you're saying that all I got from mom is an overabundance of aura” Jaune was still processing the whole demigod thing. Most people did struggle with the information at first but for those from Remnant, it’s harder.

“Seems like it,” Nico leaned back on the wall, “So what’s this I heard about your transcripts?”

 

(<=Cardin=>)

 

Cardin had spent the past few days spying on teams RWBY, WNTR and JNPR. He hadn’t learned much in that time but he finally hit the gold mine. Nico and Jaune were discussing gods from another planet, the things that could be done with that information. And then the motherload was dropped, Jaune Arc faked his transcripts, lied his way into Beacon. Cardin found it hard not to cackle, he had something on them all now! Twelve students were basically at his mercy. Many hours later Cardin would realize his information was useless. Cardin confronted the group later that day after planning what he would say.

“I know your secret,” He told the group of twelve, confident in his control.

“Oh really?” Weiss questioned while looking board, “Well go on then, what are we hiding?”

“Your not human, not fully at least, you’ve got the blood of gods in your veins. Gods from another world,” Cardin had that self-satisfied look on his face that just made you want to punch him, “I wonder what people would do with that knowledge if I told them, but I won't so long as you…”

“Yeah, lemme stop you right there,” Yang leaned forward her draconic fangs out in their full glory, “I, as you said have the blood of a god in my veins, I can control and produce fire on a whim while also having a dragon transformation. Weiss is terrifyingly smart and has an owl willing to dive-bomb anything for her.”

“Both me and Nico can raise the dead and travel via shadow. Ruby is stronger, faster, better under the light of the moon or in a forest has minor control over gravity and is an expert marksman,” Blake took over, “Thalia basically rules the sky, the wind bows to her and lightning follows her direction. Nora rules lightning and wields incredible strength.”

“You think you'd win, that outing us would destroy us,” Ruby’s eyes had a tint of red, “But you seem to forget, we have the blood of gods in our veins, we wield their power. In reality Cardin I doubt anyone could truly take us on.”

“I’ll tell the headmaster! You’ll be expelled!” Cardin turned and fled.

 

(<=Ozpin=>)

 

Ozpin listened through Cardin’s story. It was good to finally know for certain what was so odd about team RWBY but Cardin underestimated Ozpin’s ability to not be stupid.

“Mr. Winchester I can not and will not expel students merely because they happen to have a god as a mother or father,” Ozpin paused, he had a feeling he knew what was coming next.

“Jaune faked his transcripts!” Ah, there it was. Ozpin hated doing this to students but he had to dash Cardin’s hopes now.

“I know,” Ozpin smiled at the look on Cardin’s face, “I’ve always known but I let him in, I bet you're wondering why? Well, simple, he was caught because of one thing, the background checks go back farther than he anticipated. Mr. Arc isn’t stupid, far from it, and honestly, there are few others at this school that can match him mentally.”

“Mr. Arc was careful, he made himself seem ordinary to the point that his lack of skill at the beginning was almost plausible,” Glynda glared at Cardin, “Honestly I don’t know why we let you in with your laundry list of unacceptable behaviour.”

Cardin, rather understandably, bolted as soon as he was permitted to leave. Glynda turned to her boss.

“James request that we house Penny as the council is likely to try and use her against Vale,” Glynda moved to take a seat, “Penny request to be put up with team RWBY do to prior relations. Sir if your right about the queen-”

“Then the council will lose control of Vale,” Ozpin had known this day would come eventually, “Inform team CFVY that they take orders directly from the queen, give them this, it’s the only known method of reaching her.”

“Sir, why are we directing CFVY to the queen?” Glynda wasn’t the most supportive of the council. Gods, could the woman rant about them.

“Well we both know that our new queen is better than our current leader, why not show her our allegiances?” Ozpin wasn’t going to mention his other motivations, no need to worry Glynda. Besides Ozpin had other things to worry about. Now, who should be in charge of the dance?

“Glynda, Inform Ms. Schnee and Ms. Xiao-Long that they are in charge of planning the dance for me would you,” Ozpin went back to his task before he was interrupted.

 

(<=Ruby=>)

 

Ruby was overwhelmed. Between getting into Beacon, finding the members of WNTR had joined Beacon as well, the possible issue with the Norse, Penny’s situation and now she had to try and evade being forced into heels. Ruby would swear the universe hated her sometimes. Ruby would succeed, there wasn’t a person on Remnant that could get Thalia into heels on short notice and if her date wasn’t going to no way in hell was Ruby. Things were just piling up, team CFVY was no longer apart of the hunter association, people were catching on, things were just a mess.

“So, how’d CFVY do on their assignment?” Yang was fiddling with something in the bathroom as she asked the question.

“Well, they sealed the tunnel and managed to take care of a few Grimm,” Ruby stretched out on her bed, “I think they’re getting their next assignment tonight.”

“Think? Are you not giving it to them?” Weiss looked up from her work at that, eyes narrowed. Ruby nodded, she was ]but it was more dependent on Coco calling her than anything else. Ruby had little involvement in assigning the team assignments, despite what one might think. Ruby’s phone rang. Blake grinned.

“Speak of the devil,”

“Hello, Coco right?” Ruby sat up, “RR sends her regards.”

“The train is in the station,” Coco replied with the current keyword, “What’s our next assignment?”

“Beacon is having a dance, you and your team is to be on guard duty but to be obvious about it,” Ruby thought for a moment, “Teams RWBY, WNTR and JNPR are on your talent watchlist correct?”

“Yes, RWBY specifically, they demonstrate a high ability in the field, WNTR is made up of skilled fighters with some teamwork abilities and JNPR appears to be an interesting combo of strategy and power,” Coco usually spoke in a monotone in these calls but she seemed proud of the mentioned teams.

“Good, RWBY is on our watch list and WNTR is already working alongside the queen on something classified, keep an eye on JNPR, their unknown,” Ruby listened to the question Coco asked and blushed, “Well you see we don’t know Pyrrha because we’ve been out of the loop the past few years.”

Coco hung up after telling Ruby that their new mission wouldn't be a problem, they were already going to the dance. That was one less problem for Ruby to focus on, now she could get back to the issue at hand. Everyone seemed to figure she was the queen, even Coco.

“I told you, Rubes,” Yang’s voice drifted from the bathroom, “Your initials was a bad move, even uncle Qrow agreed with me on that.”

“Well sorry that I didn’t expect everyone at school to follow the news!” Ruby huffed, this was so annoying. Why couldn’t it be like back home were the news was mostly ignored, or at least not focused on? One of the few things to be missed about Signal Ruby supposed.

“You should have, people tend to pay attention when a foreign entity inserts itself into the government,” Weiss stood and stretched as she talked. The white-haired girl had spent most of the day in that chair and had a stiff back as a result. Weiss and Yang left the room together, likely to work on the plans for the dance.

“So where’s Penny?” Blake hadn’t really noticed that the android hadn’t been present for most of the day. Blake had moments like that often, she got so rolled up in a new book that the rest of the world barely registered. Team RWBY had several habits they were trying to break.

“She went to talk to her team about the tournament,” Ruby rolled over, “Planning and all that.”

“Ah, that’s good. We should do that,” Blake turns back to her book only for her curiosity to burn, “Hey Ruby, you and Yang talk about your father all the time, what about Yang’s?”

Ruby freezes up for a moment, just a moment. “W-what do you want to know?” Blake narrowed her eyes, something was up. Something that Blake would figure out, she did not like Ruby’s stutter.

“Just anything you want to tell me, whatever your comfortable telling me.” Ruby looked torn like this wasn’t a topic she liked.

“Uncle Tai is… Well, he doesn’t believe dad, doesn’t really want to,” Ruby sat up against the wall, “He doesn’t believe any of my family’s secrets, at least the ones he knows. You guys know more than he does.”

“Your mother stopped telling him after he refused to believe the one’s he was told?” Ruby nodded. Taiyang had never believed in the nonsense that his teammates spouted.

“Yeah, Aunt Raven got mad at him about it, he started to believe for a bit, then he snapped back and Aunt Raven was gone a week later,” Ruby looked mildly distressed, “Dad told me that the only reason he talks to Uncle Tai is Yang, he hates leaving me with him. Uncle Tai always tries to convince me to do something else, tries to tell me about dad’s lies but he never listens to me.”

“Your Uncle sounds like he’s stubborn,” Blake crossed the room to sit next to the redhead, “He hasn’t tried to force you to listen though?”

“He has, he tried to get rid of Crescent Rose once but Yang didn’t let him,” Ruby laughed lightly at this point, “She told him that the moment he does anything to hurt me is the moment she walks out, I don’t think he believes her.”

“That’s unfortunate,” Blake grinned as she hugged Ruby, “Yang would totally do that, wouldn’t even think twice.”

Ruby laughed, a loud bright laugh. Blake’s grin widened. “Is it sad that you know her better than her father?”

“Honestly? All things considered, I’m not surprised,” Blake pulled her young leader close, “Ruby this man tried to ruin your dreams based on him not trusting your father. I don’t know why Yang goes back at all.”

“I don’t either but dad says it’s only a matter of time before Uncle Tai ruins everything.” that effectively ends the conversation as Ruby just sits and lets what practically amounts to an older sister hold her. Later Yang questions why they were sat together on Weiss’s bed and is told about the conversation. Yang stays quiet for a while before.

“Yeah, dad’s on thin ice,” Yang climbs into her bed and pulls out her scroll. The scowl on her face is plain as day, Yang takes issue with her father it would seem. The Branwen extended family was a mess and Blake hoped it didn’t get worse.

“I don’t like the man, not after what Ruby just told me,” Blake quickly sent a text to Thalia. A quick request to be relieved of pillow duty. Yang looks down at Blake as if contemplating something.

“If I’m honest Blake, you and me both,” Yang leaned back towards the far wall, “The dance is tomorrow you know? Gonna ask Weiss?”

“Already did,” Blake was stopped by the door opening and Thalia stepping in, “Hey Thalia could you keep Ruby distracted tomorrow?”

“So long as Coco and her team do their job,” Thalia takes Blake's place and pulls Ruby close. The next day the dance would go off without a hitch, only rumoured reports of gunfire in the distance to sully the joyful event. It would have remained that way for Ruby if not for Coco’s mission report.

 

(<=Coco=>)

 

Coco is being forced to report her findings from the night before to the headmaster and general Ironwood. Not like it’s worthwhile, Ironwood refuses to listen to her. That woman did something to the CCT and the stupid atlesion general is an overconfident shit.

“I’m sorry sir,” Coco nearly chokes at what she just heard, “But did you just say you had government documentation stating that your cybernetic army is to be stationed in Vale?”

Ironwood’s nod confirms before his words do. Council interference. “Yes, the council assured me that I have full governmental support for this action.”

“Well, the council lied,” Coco had to suppress a smirk, “I will repair that error when I make my report of the night's events to my employer, don’t you worry about it.”

“Your employer? Your a student and part of the hunter association, and there is no employer ranked high enough to overturn this order,” Ironwood looks furious, “I think you’ll find that you need to stand down.”

Coco does smile at this point as she pulls her phone out. The young woman dials a number and sets the phone to speaker. 

“Hello, Coco right?” A fairly gruff and staticy masculine voice answers, “RR sends her regards.”

“The ball lacked punch,” Coco stared at the general as she spoke, “I have you on speaker, there’s a matter of government we need to discuss with dear old general Ironwood. Could we get RR on the line?”

“Right away, the council  mucking things up again?” The man on the other end seems amused.

“Yes, they granted the Atlas military permission to occupy Valian land with their robotic soldiers,” There’s a distinctly feminine gasp on the other end, albeit, heavily distorted and with an underlay of static.

“The council is going behind my back again? Do they not understand the fact that I could remove them from Vale at a moments notice.” The woman on the other end sounds incredibly frustrated, “If general Ironwood is truly in the room than he should be aware that I want his robots out of my kingdom as a whole.”

“He’s aware your highness,” Coco barely keeps herself from laughing at the look Ironwood gives her.

“Ma’am, you are aware that imitating a government figure is illegal right? I must ask that you stop this nonsense,” Ironwood manages to keep up his professional facade, “I demand you turn yourself in, your actions could very well cause a war.”

“Jimmy, Jimmy, listen to the girl,” The blake haired man laughs, the first thing Coco's heard from him this whole time. “And get your scrap metal outta here, the council knows exactly who this is, RR is after all the high queen of Vale.”

“Qrow? You're here, that’s wonderful, I’m sure your family wants to see you,” The man knows the queen, Coco decides to put that info away for later.

“I will. Think you can let this one in on things.” That’s the last thing Coco hears from the room as she steps onto the elevator. The doors close and she sets her scroll back to normal.

“So, the council fucked up big this time, didn’t they Ruby?” Coco can’t help but be satisfied at the strangled noise from the other end.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So to address some things, Team RWBY hasn't met Sun do to Blake's reveal being unneeded, which means no stopping the fang at the docks, which means no paladin fight  
> Ruby doesn't go after Cinder at the dance, which means no mt Glenn mission
> 
> This one got away from me, It's unedited but since I and my Beta (BetrayalTale) are editing the story as a whole I figured I'd upload this as-is for now. Next up is the tournament and the aftermath
> 
> Updates and Info can be found on my twitter: Pheonix @BlazingDusk
> 
> If you read the not: 45953938


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Unedited: Sorry... Well not really  
> Twitter for updates: Pheonix @Blazingdusk (Links don't like me) and seriously, this is like my one way to alert you lot of issues and delays...

Ruby stared down at the devastation in the arena. Yang had just finished her fight in the first round and absolutely demolished the arena. Slabs of concrete were scattered, a heavy layer of dust had settled and most of it was on fire. In the center of the destruction was Yang, her draconic fist still outstretched from her last attack. It was one-sided but Yang loved to toy with people.

Weiss and Blake had already finished their signals round fights. Weiss didn’t even fight hers, she just had Frost do all the work, lazy featherhead. Blake, on the other hand, wanted her fight done quickly and pushed her opponent out of the arena by sending him through his shadow. Ruby was the only member of the team that was yet to fight. Most people that knew Ruby figured her fight would be just as brutal and one-sided as her teammates and most that didn’t know her assumed so. It was hard to argue with her leading a one-sided match when her three teammates put in little to no effort and she was the leader.

“I somehow always forget how over the top you cousin gets,” Thalia was sitting beside Ruby, her hands running through the fur of a very happy corgi, “Can’t believe you lot, what’s up with you Branwen's? You manage to corrupt everyone around you with you weird brand of chaos.”

“Old family secret,” Ruby and Thalia teased each other often.

“Really? You’ve got a lot of those,” Thalia lent back, “Shouldn’t you head down? You're up next.”

“Huh? Shit!” Ruby scrambled to her feet and rushed down to the locker area where her team was waiting with her gear. Crescent, Lunaris and Ebony Rose were integral parts of her fighting style and Ruby refused to leave her baby or it’s aunts alone in a public place. After about five minutes Ruby was walking towards the central arena. The arena had been replaced rather than bothering to try and fix it.

The fight, if you could call it that was short and incredibly difficult to follow. Ruby’s opponent introduced himself as Flynt Coal just before the match started. Almost as soon as the buzzer sounded Ruby burst apart. Ruby had difficulty maintaining this form while controlling it, the human mind was not designed to rule a cloud of rose petals after all. Ruby rushed forward, her petals slicing through the air as she made what would amount to the finishing move. As she reached her opponent she reached forward and latched onto his aura before transferring the effect to him.

Flynt Coal suddenly found himself as a cloud of black petals. Ruby struggled to control this and it was her semblance, in a way her brain was wired to handle it, everyone else though? Not so much. It took Yang years to get to the point that Ruby was when it came to self-control, and even that wasn’t quite true. Flynt never stood a chance and without Ruby guiding him through the controls he was at her mercy. Ruby twisted, dragging the trumpet wielder along before she released him. As Flynt reformed, he found himself disoriented and in the air, he hit the ground and rolled to a stop.

“And Flynt Coal loses by ring out!” _What?_ “Team RWBY has given us a rather interesting set of matches haven’t they?”

“What the-” Flynt was interrupted by the contents of his stomach deciding they wanted a change of scenery. What just happened? How did it happen? Flynt glanced up once his food for the day was freed from his digestive system to find his opponent offering her hand.

“You okay?” Ruby pulled the Atlas student to his feet, “Sorry about that, I know it’s pretty disorientating the first time I do that with someone.”

“Hell of a trick,” Flynt dusted himself off once he was back on his feet, “No need for apologies, just glad I lost to another leader, you’ve got a good team at your back.”

“Well we’ve known each other for a while so it isn’t exactly fair,” Ruby and Flynt were on their way out of the arena at this point. Flynt laughed, this team would do well in the four verse four rounds.

“I wouldn’t say that it just makes you better hunters.” That was a sentiment that Ruby could agree with.

 

(==Later==)

 

Team RWBY sat in the locker room. It was time for the full team matchups. The partner round was fairly dull, Ruby and Weiss ended their match with a set of propulsion glyphs and a light shove. Yang and Blake merely used a combo attack to throw Yang at the opponent and launch them out of the arena.

“We have a reputation don’t we?” Yang was leaning on the wall right by the entrance to the arena. The blonde didn’t need to do a lot of maintenance on her weapons. Weiss snapped Myrtanaster closed and stood up, she had sacked her chamber of fire dust and replaced it with an extra chamber of lightning dust.

“It would appear that winning most fights by ring out in the first minute makes people believe you to be fairly weak otherwise.” No one on the team liked that assessment of them, Weiss was by far the most angered by that. “Which simply means it’s time to prove them the fuck wrong.”

“Our opponents have a sniper right?” Ruby was fiddling with the scope on Crescent Rose, “I need my heavy impact gravity rounds then.”

The other three stared at her. Ruby’s heavy impact gravity rounds were in actuality, normal gravity rounds for anyone else. If Ruby was pulling out her heaviest impacting rounds then the rest of the team wasn’t going to hold back.

“Guess we’re not holding anything back then.” Blake tapped the ground with her hand, “Huh… that’s a weird amount of skeletons.”

“Aren’t we floating in the air?” Yang was surprised by the news. There really shouldn't be any skeletons in the arena, no one died while building it. “Think you can make use of what’s there?”

“Yeah, easy, this will be one to remember.” Blake’s grin was infectious. A semi-dragon girl, a small army of undead, an upside-down the sniper and the ice queen with a habit of supporting her team. The rules said nothing about using divine powers inherited from parents.

“We might win due to fear,” Ruby’s grin, like always, was terrifying. Most of the redhead's teeth were sharp and pointed, but the truly scary part was the glint in her eyes that promised pain and suffering.

“Teams RWBY and BRNZ report enter the arena.” The four quickly gathered their equipment and made their way to the arena. They arrived at roughly the same time as their opponents. While BRNZ looked ready for combat RWBY looked ready for war. If there had been anyone else in the arena at the time they’d have realized who would end up winning this match. Team BRNZ was an odd set of people, one of the used a pair of buzzsaws as weapons while another used a cattle prod. Their leader simple had a pair of claws and their most normal and functional teammate carried a sniper rifle.

“Mine are better,” Ruby glanced at the opposing leader's claws. Yang spoke her agreement. Imitations couldn’t hold a candle to the mass of darkness or draconic fist of Ruby and Yang. The buzzer went and team RWBY burst into action. Ruby jumped and landed upside down twelve feet up on one knee with Crescent Rose in rifle mode. Weiss whistled and prepared a set of glyphs around her team. Blake rolled forward and brought her hands to the ground, the floor of the arena shock as the eleven skeletons answered their lady’s call.

Yang shifted. Both her arms were scaled and the scales could be seen travelling down her stomach and up her neck. Yang’s eyes were reptilian and her teeth sharp. Yang’s dragon form had spread slightly, she had a pair of short horns atop her head and the beginnings of ridges along her spine. Team BRNZ collectively took a step back.

“And team RWBY seems to be using all of their talents in this fight.” Port turned to his co-host.

“Yes, team RWBY has several unexplainable talents, mostly because they refuse to explain.” That was Oobleck. The girl with a sniper, May if Ruby recalled, was the first to recover by launching herself backwards and took aim. There was a defining crack as May took a shot only for an ear-splitting boom to be heard as the air in front of Crescent Rose’s barrel shattered. May’s bullet never met its destination as Ruby shot it out of the air. Blake’s hands rose and along with them came six skeletons. The leader of BRNZ rushed Blake in an attempt to end the threat of the undead. He didn’t get far.

“Hey, nice claws, wanna see mine?” Yang brought her left hand up to slash at her opponent. The student with wrist-mounted claws barely managed to dodge away and was unable to avoid the follow-up punch. Yang’s fist rocketed forward with all her might, which at the moment was a lot. BRNZ leader was launched halfway across the arena before slamming through multiple trees and stopping. The guy with a cattle prod had rushed Weiss, she took advantage of that by setting up a set of propulsion glyphs under his feet. Not only was he unable to handle the speeds he reached but Weiss was able to clothesline him rather easy.

“Come on, at least pretend to be a challenge.” Weiss stabbed downward with her sword. The guy rolled to the side only to be caught in a wave of ice. Weiss tapped the ice entrapping her opponent, “I thought I said pretend to be a challenge.”

Ruby was locked in the least heated sniper match in history. Every shot May fired was meet by one from the redhead, it was a game. Ruby was practically untouchable in the moment, twelve feet up and able to shoot bullets out of the air. Ruby dropped back to the ground after a buzzsaw bounced off her aura. May grinned, finally, she could get a clean shot without the redhead blocking her! She lined up a shot, scoped in on Weiss. May moved to pull the trigger, this shot should take Weiss out or screw her up enough that May’s team could do the res. She pulled the trigger and something slammed into the barrel and caused her to miss her shot.

“The hell?” May switched her rifle to axe mode and turned to find her assailant only to come face to face with a white owl with glimmering bronze blades mounted to its wings. “The fuck?”

The owl apparently didn’t like that response and slashed at her face with its wing. May jumped from the tree to dodge and landed right in the middle of the group of skeletons. “Fuck” May had moved away from one enemy only to wind up in a group of six more. At once the six jumped her, each beating and whaling on her until her aura dropped to low. Team BRNZ wasn’t able to operate at full capacity without their sniper so the team quickly fell apart in a four verse two situation, although to be fair they were in an eleven verse two fight at that point. RWBY had won this fight. Although the team wouldn’t know it, this would be there last fight in the tournament.

 

(<=Yang=>)

 

RWBY, unfortunately, was missing JNPR’s first full team match. The group had made it a point to debrief after every major development in a mission. They may not be on a mission but this was still important. The tournament was a sort of recruiting field, some people got apprenticeships out of it which could allow you to graduate a year early. RWBY wasn’t looking to get apprenticeships, they were recruiting.

“Anyone yet?” Blake looked a little tired. The daughter of Hades had poured just a little too much energy into dragging the skeletons up.

“We should consider May, she reacted fast and if not for me every one of her shots would have hit.” Ruby praising someone's aim meant a lot, even if it wasn’t really praise. Ruby’s aim was ridiculous and she hadn’t quite come to understand that.

“She’s from Vale to so she’s more likely to agree. I’d nominate Flynt and Neon, neither of them buys into the military bridge and most like that end up leaving Atlas once their done school.” Weiss was looking at her scroll quickly checking on people in the tournament.

“Coco said their focusing on Beacon students, And I think she said she can take on an apprentice now, not sure how.” Yang talked with team CFVY the most.

“Because she works for me as part of the reforming royal guard she is technically legally allowed one, well her team is as they are still technically in training.” Ruby would like for the conversation to continue but every screen in the room lit up with an image of the black queen piece from chess.

“The fuck?” Weiss stared at the screen, “Was the CCT hacked?”

“Coco says someone fucked with Pyrrha’s head and she demoed Penny,” Ruby was quickly looking through her messages for anything from her agents, “Penny should be okay, her father wasn’t stupid enough to allow extreme dismemberment to kill her.”

“Yeah that’d be pretty stupid,” Weiss stood and grabbed Myrtanaster, “We need to find who’s doing this.”

“No we need to get up there, Coco just reported a large swarm of incoming Grimm.” Ruby vanished into a cloud and quickly dragged her team along with her. When they reached the arena Yang was the first to recover followed closely by Blake who’s experience at shadow travelling was helpful. Weiss nearly face-planted instantly.

“Ruby! I thought I told you enough of this fucking shit!” Weiss stumbled on her feet while Yang moved to pull Pyrrha up. Whoever had hacked the CCT was still going on but RWBY didn’t care. Ruby rushed over to Penny’s body and pulled a glowing green sphere from her chest.

“Alright, guys switch to earth comms I’ve got Penny linked up,” Yang, Blake and Weiss reached into a pouch on each of their belts and pulled something out that they put in their ears. The hoards of Grimm could now be easily seen on the horizon.

“The Grimm will arrive in approximately half an hour, conveniently that lines up with moonrise.” Ruby’s grin was wide at Penny’s words. Moonrise wasn’t as good as it being night time for Ruby but it was still helpful.

“You told Penny?” Thalia had dropped into the arena her communicator in her ear.

“Ruby is of the opinion that despite being an android I may be one of you.” Ruby scoffed as she pulled Crescent Rose from her back.

“Well they didn’t just make a soul, what’d they use? Sugar water?” Ruby sounded vastly annoyed at this topic. Yang laughed and Weiss looked mildly disappointed. Thalia heard Penny’s laughter over the comm system.

“Nico Will and Reyna are on the ground, any word from Coco?” Ruby nodded, Coco and her team had begun combating the threat while awaiting orders. The only orders they had received from Ruby was to take over leading the Valian hunters that were in the city. Glynda would be busy with the students and Ozpin was likely guarding the fall maiden if Ruby’s hunch was correct at least.

“Alright, we need to deal with the incoming Nevermore first.” Ruby was a natural-born leader, once again demonstrating why her friends appointed her their leader. “It’s the biggest threat and will be far easier before our forces get split by the hoards.”

The only real difficulty with fighting Nevermore’s is bringing them down, an issue made entirely irrelevant by it diving at them. The group was momentarily dumbfounded, this would likely be one of the easiest kills of their careers. Nevermore’s were rarely involved in ground assaults, mostly attacking aerial vehicles and people in mountainous terrain which made them one of the deadliest Grimm simply on advantage. As it neared the ground the Nevermore found both its wings pinned down quickly followed by its tail. Ruby drove the blade of Ebony into its eye and fired, that was enough to kill it, point-blank shotgun fire directly to the brain.

“Blake, Weiss and Yang I need you in the city, clear a path to Beacon,” Ruby turned, she was in full leadership mode now as if leading an army. “Pyrrha, Juane get to Beacon, they need a strategist up there. Nora, Ren, we need heavy forces on the ground and civilian guides.”

Nora and Ren gave confirmation first and were off. Juane wasn’t sure about splitting the group but followed after Pyrrha anyway. Yang had transitioned as much of her body to its dragon state as possible, her scales would lessen the effect of each impact on her aura. Weiss and Blake jumped, the two were the best at dealing with wide area coverage.

“Thalia your with me, we need to meet up with the guard.” Ruby glanced back at the large pool of students behind her, “The rest of you, get the civilians to safety.”

The students were off without hesitance, each moving to their best position. May used the height of the coliseum and took a sniper's position facing the incoming hoard, clearly intent to at least try and thin their numbers. The rest of BRNZ went off the side and were followed by everyone else.

“Ruby the few remaining AK’s are firing on civilians,” Ruby cursed at penny’s words and gave the order to destroy all AK’s people encounter. She had been adamant in her wish to not have the damn things in her kingdom and Coco believed they were likely a security risk after what happened with the CCT. Coco was apparently right.

“Already on it cuz! Shit, we got White Fang!” The fang was involved, really? In a coordinated assault utilizing the Grimm. Fucking degenerates were working with literal soulless monsters in an attempt to ransack her kingdom and for what? Because they didn’t like humans, well Ruby had the most reason to hate humans and she was Grimm, didn’t see her working with them did you?

“There’s a lot of Beowulf’s, at least two separate packs!” Weiss sounded like she was falling. Ruby took a breath and said the four most terrifying words for a member of the Rose clan. Four words that would destroy Ruby’s chance of hiding her heritage.

“I’m issuing the challenge.” Yang’s muffled curse was indicative of her shock. Weiss’s line got so quiet that Ruby’s wolf ears could just make out her heartbeat. It was Blake’s words that assured Ruby that this was the right decision.

“We need backup here! I can count at least twenty Beowulf's advancing towards the civilians!” Ruby’s eyes lit with crimson energy as shadow wisp trailed across her form. Ruby crouched low, touching both hands to the ground. Thalia backed up at this point, once the alpha’s answered shed be safe for the most part. Ruby’s lips pulled back to expose her sharp fangs as she snarled, pulling her head up Ruby howled long and hard. The howl could be heard around the city, the Beowulfs heard it as a challenge, other Grimm as a warning and the people? They heard an ancient legend, an inhuman sound that brought a sense of hope to them.

There were three answering calls. With the answer to the challenge, all Beowulf’s rushed to Ruby’s location. Ruby would be fighting the alphas of each pack in combat for control. Beowulf’s, despite what people believed, were the least wild of the Grimm. The Rose clan had worked alongside their cousins for generations and eventually, the Grimm learned from the Rose’s, some things were forgotten, some could not be done, but the alpha’s howl could not be forgotten. It was one of the few things the ancient Rose’s could do against their ancestor, take away one type of Grimm.

The alphas were the first to arrive, each followed closely by their pack. Once all three were present the fight began. Ruby’s claws formed as she rushed forward, her weapons couldn’t be used, not for this. Ruby ducked to the left to avoid a swipe from the first alpha before lashing out with her claws, her goal wasn’t to kill she just had to incapacitate her opponents or show them that they couldn’t win. When Ruby’s claw impacted the Grimm Ruby used her major advantage over them, she began draining it of its energy. Her eyes glowed brighter and the shadows around her grew darker, more erratic. Within moments Ruby had drained much of the Beowulf’s recently gained energy and kicked it away, right through the nearby wall. Ruby’s grin was wide as she felt the negative energy flow through her, her stance became more Grimm like and she snarled far more animalistic than usual. Thalia sat back and watched as Ruby throw the alpha’s around.

 

(<=Blake=>)

 

Several minutes after all the Beowulf’s left Blake, Yang and Weiss had made it to Beacon. The group had split up, Weiss went to the courtyard to assist with civilians while Blake and Yang moved around campus to hold the Grimm back, Yang was dealing with far more AK’s than Grimm however. Hopefully, the team would be okay.

“Well well,” Blake had hoped to never hear that voice again, “How nice to see you again.”

“Adam.” Blake practically growled out. The delusional man thought he was helping the faunus when in reality he was only causing harm. Blake wasn’t sure what was wrong with the bull faunus and frankly, she didn’t care.

“Blake.” He advanced, his sword sheathed in hand, “You know I thought we saw eye to eye at one point then you brought that Schnee bitch to Menagerie.”

“Weiss is as much a victim of the Carnufex as any faunus,” Blake, like all demigods, had a fatal flaw, her’s was just different from normal, “And if you try to touch her, or any of my friends I’ll make sure to show you the deepest horrors of hell personally.”

“Oh? You expect empty words to scare me off,” Adam lunged forward firing his blade straight at her as he moved, “They won’t because in the end, you’ll just run away. JUST LIKE YOU DID EVERY SUMMER!”

“Run away?” Blake stepped to the side barely dodging his blade, “Is that what you thought I did? Really? I was training! Learning to survive!”

Blake drew her katana and lashed out at Adam with the clever. She had to avoid hitting his sword due to his semblance, a task that was far easier said than done. Adam was a skilled fighter but his skill didn’t really match up to demigod instincts and six years of greek training, him knowing Blake’s style as well as he did gave him an edge though. Adam caught his sword just as he blocked Blake’s attack with its scabbard. His next attack was deflected to the side as Blake stepped back.

“You’ve claimed that every year yet I see nothing that says you needed that training!” He charged again and swung Wilt in a wide arc, “No you abandoned me year after year while you went and hung around the enemy!”

The more Adam talked the more it became clear to Blake what this was about. What he was after, revenge. Simply because he felt he should be in control because she refused to conform to what he wanted from her. He wasn’t fighting for the faunus, likely never was, he was simply fighting for himself and either deluding himself or outright lying to everyone else.

“You are a traitor to our people, to me!” His next attack was wide enough to connect through her shadow clone, “And for that, I will destroy all that you love! All that you’ve built!”

“The fuck you will!” Blake had forgotten that this was the designated meet-up point for her and Yang and the Blonde had just arrived. Fire flickered around Yang, her arms hung lower than usual and she was sweating. Yang had nearly exhausted her flames, Blake wasn’t sure how but she had. Yang launched herself at Adam, scales crawling up her arm as she moved. Her fist drawn back.

“I’ll start with you then,” Adam slashed forward, his blade meeting Yang’s charge and unleashing all its pent up energy. Blake watched as Wilt meet Yang’s arm just above the elbow, just above her spreading scales. Yang hit the ground and rolled to a stop.

“That’s all it took.” Adam sounded disappointed, “All that fire, the scales all gone like that? So, are you done playing at being faunus?”

Yang was laughing, at the pain or Adam wasn’t clear, “My fire’s done for now, but playing? I’m not a faunus, I’m a dragon and if you think losing an arm can stop a dragon,” As Yang spoke her scales rushed across her body, her left arm, entire torso, and right leg. A short reptilian tail sprouted from her spin and a single wing grew from her right shoulder, “Well you might want to rethink that.”

Years later team RWBY would talk about how the fall of Beacon went, no one except Weiss had a clear idea of what happened after that. Yang had spent too much energy and passed out, Blake passed out far sooner and Ruby took control of every last Beowulf in and around the city of Vale before petrifying the Wyvern Grimm. The queen’s memory was understandably fuzzy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ... ... ... ... Okay so I know I said no more 3000-word chapters and came out with 4000-word one but this is not what I meant and I'm not sure how to take that...
> 
> And BANG! Yang's a fucking Dragon! Still lost her arm but meh... shits gonna go down next chapter.
> 
> If anyone is wondering, the rest of Beacon's fall will likely be relegated to a side story as out of the main cast only one remembers it in detail, it's now on the list right alongside JNPR's entrance exam and shit that CFVY gets up to after this point... Again, I have no chill  
> ...  
> Oh! the vault... yeah that went like you'd expect, pretty much exactly as in cannon  
> And for those who likely think Blake could have summoned some skellys... She can do more than Nico without crashing but she can't do as much as Nico... Yeah, that makes sense
> 
> Fun Fact: Adam is the first character in this to not be OOC, simply because his story and attitude was the easiest to translate into this universe
> 
> Next chapter might be a while, two unfinished BNHA one-shots, a P5 fic in the works and two HP ideas... or it might be tomorrow, who knows with my track record! I certainly don't
> 
> Check the note at the start plz.  
> Didn't: 875946254-Omega  
> Did: 875946254-Alpha


	16. Aftermath

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Twitter for updates and info (When I have some to give): Pheonix @BlazingDusk

A large open cavern with a short walkway over a seemingly endless cavern. Three large glowing circles connected by lines on the floor. What little of the room was visible was overgrown, bushes, grass, flowers, it was all there. A large tree sat in the middle, glowing flowers rained petals on the ground. Despite its beauty, this was the scene of a tragedy, the body of a young woman lay by the tree, right in front of a door inlaid into it. Two other women were present, one in a long red dress with a blackened skeletal hand. The other was dressed in mostly black and kept her face covered by a bone-white mask that resembled a Nevermore. The woman in red stood halfway between the body and the woman with the mask.

“Vernal wasn’t the spring maiden,” The woman in black pulled her mask off to reveal her crimson eyes, wreathed in the flames of the seasons, “I am.”

The woman attacked the other with a ball of fire. Raven allowed the ball to splash harmlessly against her as she advanced. Ice had begun to spread out from Raven’s feet while the nearest plants ignited. Raven looked angry and she was on the warpath. A gleaming band of gold white metal was around her right wrist.

“That won't work, not against me.” The woman in red seemed desperate as she rushed forward with a blade made of fire and glass.

 

(<======>)

 

Ruby shot up gasping for breath as she awoke. She couldn’t believe what she had seen. Who was her aunt fighting? Who was Vernal? Where were they? Ruby had a lot of questions about her dream as she looked around the room. This was her room at her uncle’s house, Why wasn’t she at home? Where was her father, or her team? Thalia?

“Thanks for looking after her for the past couple days Tai.” That was her father, he was here but why was Tai looking after her?

“It’s not an issue Qrow but…” Tai trailed off and Ruby got the feeling that this was going to be bad.

“What? But what Tai?” Qrow sounded angry and annoyed, almost as if he’d heard it before.

“Maybe it’d be better for her to stay here.” Ruby nearly growled at that. Take her from her father, HA! Fat chance. “Just hear me out on this! She keeps getting hurt and your semblance.”

“Tai,” Qrow wasn’t going to allow that to continue, “This isn’t about her getting hurt, this is about my  _ delusions _ that you just can’t accept.”

“How could I Qrow? Summer died thirteen years ago and you talk as if she’s still alive, we buried her body damn it!” Tai sounded angry and desperate, “You believed it when Summer said she was descended from some Grimm lady and now you’ve gotten it into Ruby’s head that people are trying to kill her.”

“They are! The fucking council is after anyone with the last name Rose and the fucking asshole Grimm elimination organization is after anyone with wolf ears!” It’d been years since Ruby had heard her father this angry, “The issue here is your lack of trust! It nearly killed our team, it drove my sister off and now you're trying to tear my family apart!”

“Your sister? She’s a coward who ran from responsibility! My so-called lack of trust isn’t what drove her off, the idea of being attached to something did!” There was a crash, Tai probably knocked something over, “Raven was a fucking coward who ran off with the hunter's secrets just like she was supposed to and you claim she actually fucking cares about anyone in this family like she actually loves Yang!”

“Yang’s the only fucking thing on this planet that makes Raven feel human anymore! You don’t get to tell me anything about my sister! Not after the shit, you’ve done!” Ruby hadn’t meet Raven very many times but she knew Tai didn’t know what he was talking about. “Tai, where are they?”

“Where are what Qrow? We’re not done here either.” Tai’s voice quivered slightly, he was scared of something. Ruby had no idea what her uncle was scared of but that might be because she didn’t know what her father was talking about.

“Her weapons, you know the ones she made and her mother's daggers.” Ruby couldn’t hear the reply but she heard the bang as her father threw something in response, “The fuck you will! Those are her’s, she designed them and Summer’s will left those daggers to her. Know what? We’re done, I never want to see you again, stay the fuck away from me and my daughter.”

“Qrow! You can’t do that!” Ruby could hear her father coming up the steps followed closely by Tai.

“No, I can. You tried to destroy her dream again, what? Do you think Yang and Ruby didn’t tell me about the last time? They did and you did it again, you tried to crush her dreams because you can’t trust me and that would have gotten her killed!” Qrow opened the door and stormed in, “Come on Ruby get your stuff we’re leaving, we’ll talk on the way home.”

 

(<=Neo politan=>)

 

Neo was curled up against a wall watching the civilians and hunters move about. After Vale was ransacked all Valian hunters were recalled to their home under the Queen’s orders, they were to work on recovery while the queen herself recovered and healed. The royal guard, if it could be called that at this point, had begun recruitment. The first act of the acting leadership had been to inform the hunters that they may not be active guard members but they were still to follow orders. Most Valian hunters joined the guard anyway. Neo once again found herself staring at the recruitment tent before everything went to shit Roman had told her that things went sideways to move on, get a job, a real one. He’d said not to worry about him if he vanished, stating that it likely meant things had gone to plan. Roman had been adamant that his new… benefactor wouldn’t let him die, not yet.

With a deep breath, Neo made up her mind and entered the tent. This may end up being a poor choice but after the years both she and Roman began to get sick of the criminal life. They wanted out and the job with Cinder was going to be that out, then things went sideways and they couldn’t get out. Neo could only hope that Roman’s new benefactor could give them that out.

_ “I’m interested in joining.”  _ Neo hadn’t used her voice in so long that she had been relegated to sign. Neo wouldn’t know it but the lady at the table had been told to look out for someone that fits Neo’s description. She asked simple questions. Name, age, the reason for applying, just the standard stuff. After all that Neo had to sign some papers and was directed into the back.

“Ah, Neo politan, we thought we'd have to look for you,”  Neo was ready to bolt at that point and only paused do to the letter with Roman’s over-styled signature, “An anonymous tip told us all about how things went for the pair of you.”

“So tell me, why here? Why join the guard?” Coco leaned forward in her chair and stared over her sunglasses at the bicolour haired woman.

 

(<=Weiss=>)

 

Weiss was left reeling after the fall of Beacon. Her team was left in varying states of health, Yang lost an arm, Blake was impaled and lost a lot of blood and Ruby had been out for days. While her team was injured and unable to do anything Weiss had to avoid Jacques as he tried to drag her back to Atlas, the man was somehow unaware about the SDC relocation project.

“Weiss, I’ve managed to convince him that remaining here will help the SDC image, he’s likely to take credit for you remaining, however,” Winter had often seemed to be Weiss’s only ally against Jacques, while their mother provided an escape.

“That’s fine for now if he wants good PR it’s too late, thank you, Winter.” Weiss took a breath, she’d been hiding out in the Branwen house while Winter dealt with the current head of the SDC, “I will not allow him to take me from my team and family ever again.”

“Neither will I, nor will mother.” Winter pulled her sister into a hug, “She’s had enough at this point I think. Have you heard from Blake?”

“She’s coming back in a few days, cross-continental shadow travel is hard.” Weiss wasn’t sure what Blake was doing, “Three days before she will be coming back and then, as per standing orders, she’s off duty for a week to recover.”

“That’s good, I need to inform Yang that her prosthetic should be ready within three days.” Winter stood and moved to the door, “And don’t tell her this, but it’s going to be the absolute top of the line, should even be able to channel her aura through it.”

“Really? They're giving that kind of tech to Yang, that’s a little fucking weird.”

 

(<=Blake=>)

 

Blake had made her way to Menagerie via shadow to see her mother and to talk to Sienna about the fang. Adam’s actions couldn’t go unpunished and she needed to make sure he wasn’t backed by the rest of the organization. Ruby had declared the Fang a terrorist group out for the death or subjugation of everyone but themselves and had declared being part of the organization to be high treason. The redhead had only gotten away with it due to her being a faunus. Blake was to warn the leader of the group of her more volatile members and warn her to pull her tropes from Vale.

“Oh, Blake! I wasn't expecting you, did you shadow travel all the way here? You know that’s not healthy, come on let's get you home.” Kali was vastly concerned for her daughter's health, long-distance shadow travel was taxing, cross-continental wasn’t fatal through sheer willpower alone.

“Yeah, that sounds great mom. I need to talk to Sienna tomorrow, let her know?” Blake was sluggish as her mother hooked an arm around her to help her walk. Blake’s words were slurred as she continued talking about how things had gone recently and some of Ruby’s recent orders as queen. Ruby likely didn’t remember all of her new orders, most of them being after she overate. Blake hated what Adam had done, hated that he’d only done it because of her but she knew where the blame lay.

“I’ll let her know,” And like that Blake was out.

 

(==The next day==)

 

“So Blake, what’s this about?” Sienna Khan was an arrogant tiger faunus that you could argue was responsible for Adam’s current attitude. Blake didn’t like the woman but she’d be civil about things.

“I’m here to report to you on the actions of your organization in Vale, and warn you.” Blake took a step forward and every guard in the room tensed, “The White Fang is no longer welcome in Vale, we’ve confirmed sixty-seven deaths, including the deaths of thirteen children, and one hundred seventy-six injuries to the Fang directly.”

“What?” Sienna seemed taken aback at Blakes words. She had no reports of an attack on Vale. “My people wouldn’t-”

“But they would! Humans were executed as though they were mass murderers and faunus were given an ultimatum.” Blake was practically seething at this point, “Join or die. The White Fang is a terrorist group as far as Vale is concerned, you destroy human faunus relations and our queen has had enough.”

“Our? Blake, what are you really on about?” Sienna leaned forward, this couldn’t continue. Blake had fallen into some humans trap it would seem.

“Yes, our. I am a citizen of Vale. Sienna, thirteen children died in the conflict do to the White Fang, there were almost three hundred deaths at the current count and the only reason Vale isn’t out for blood is the royal family's status as faunus.” Blake kept her hands away from her weapon as she continued forward, “This isn’t to inform you that you aren’t welcome, this is a warning, your tropes aren’t to be in Valian territory. The Queen has run out of mercy, no one hurts her subjects and gets away with it.”

Blake turned to leave, her warning delivered and her message sent. Sienna would be aware of exactly what went down, she’d look into it. The White Fang and everyone else involved in the attack were wanted, and once Vale wanted you… Well, you didn’t escape. A young chameleon watched from the shadows, she felt her world shake and found herself wondering if it was worth it.

 

(<=Yang=>)

 

Yang strolled up to her front door with a smile, her fitting had gone well. She’d have a new prosthetic in days. Humming a quick tune she reached into her pocket for her keys and promptly dropped them as she struggled to get her house key. Yang groaned, losing an arm sucked even when you get two new limbs out of it. What use was one wing? The tail was awesome though.

“So looking forward to that replacement.” Yang wasn’t sure why it’d take a couple of extra days to get the arm done but her team wouldn’t be active for another week while Ruby and Blake recover fully. Despite the loss of her right arm, so foreshadowed, Yang was happy and going about her day. Well except for the part where she wasn’t able to ride Bumblebee. Truly, as twisted as it may seem, Yang was more upset at the loss of the right half of Ember Celica.

“Hey dad, Ruby go home?” Yang noticed the few things of Ruby in the house were missing. It was hard to tell Ruby had been there due to the damage her boots had taken making them useless but Yang knew the signs.

“Yeah, Qrow’s not too happy with me right now,” Tai was on the couch, he was trying to hide something. Yang shrugged and went up the steps.

“Eh, maybe he’ll come around, or maybe you finally will.” Yang had muttered the last bit under her breath, “See you tomorrow, I’m going to bed.”

Tai wished her goodnight with his right hand. That’s odd he always used his left, eh, probably nothing. Yang went up and paused at Ruby’s room. It was stripped, none of her stuff left behind. Ruby usually kept a few things in there, posters on the walls, scrap metals and materials. What was going on? Yang resolved to ask about it tomorrow when she meets up with Ruby. Things had been odd lately, maybe it just had to do with Ruby kicking the council out of the kingdom.

 

(<=The next morning=>)

 

Yang ate a quick breakfast and bolted before she could hear her father’s warnings about her uncle. Not that she would have listened, as it was, the inevitable was delayed. Tai wasn’t aware of it yet but he’d never be able to convince his daughter, not before and most certainly not after her uncle told her an unbiased version of the previous day's events. Yang was already at the end of her rope.

“Hey kid, your father say anything to you this morning?” With Yang’s confirmation that he’d said nothing Qrow seemed conflicted, “Alright kid, I bet you're wondering what happened yesterday. I’ll tell you the whole story mostly cause Tai will try to paint me as the villain in this.”

Yang sat and listened to her uncle. He told her about what had happened the day before and all the other times he argued with her father. He told her about how often Tai had called Summer crazy, had accused her and Raven of having a god complex. He told her of how Tai had tried to institutionalize Raven, of why she left. Tai had no trust, Qrow told her all about how that had come to bite them in the ass. It was a stark contrast to what Tai had told her, he’d always tried to blame Raven. Qrow wasn’t happy about that at all.

“I’ll deal with him tonight.” Yang was pissed, her mother had drilled the importance of family into her head. “Family is important, it’s the source.”

Yang’s hand had ignited while she spoke. Her fire was of the hearth and it is only as strong as the family behind it, as the home it was in. The red-orange flames were relatively weak, the relationship between her father and the rest of the family had weakened them.

 

(<=The people of Vale=>)

 

“Man, you hear anything about the Queen?” The civilians had volunteered to help in the cleanup and search and rescue. The civilians helping had generated vast positive energy.

“Other than the few orders she was able to give before she went under.” The man shrugged as he lifted another small stone, “Not much, I’m not sure how she’s controlling the Beowulfs but they're helpful.”

“Yeah, freaky as hell though,” The bear faunus glanced back, “One of the little ones is playing with my kids, under the guard of three hunters but it’s basically a puppy.”

“Yeah, did you hear the latest about the council? They threatened war after the Queen gave ‘em the boot.” The civilians had never liked the council and believed anything to be better.

“People or Vale!” the voice of Coco came over the speakers, “The Queen is still recovering but has decided to make an announcement.”

“People of Vale, the council once again refused our warnings, have sent agents to kill me and worked alongside a terrorist group and they had the gull to attempt to accuse us  of wanting to start a war with Atlas.” While Ruby spoke every screen in the kingdom lit up and displayed their emblem. “I have recalled all Valian Hunters to guard our borders and defend our people, I will be making my way to Haven to try and secure continued education for our Beacon students.”

All the screens around the kingdom flashed briefly and Ruby’s face appeared. She wore a crown of gold askew on her head, the six crimson gems glittering in the ambient light. The crowds murmured at the sight of her, she was only fifth-teen and yet she wore the crown.

“My name is Ruby Rose, I am the last wolf faunus.” Ruby reached up and straightened her crown. “Or at least I would be if there were wolf faunus. In actuality I am Grimm-born, every Rose was. We are descended from an ancient woman, possibly older than humanity. She sacrificed her humanity, and likely her soul, for a modicum amount of control over the Grimm. My family can control the Beowulfs, well we have to earn that control.” The people of Vale were visibly taken aback but none of them had voiced a negative opinion, “Once I’ve recovered I’ll understand if you’d rather not be lead by a Grimm-born, I will accomplish my goal and secure the futures of our future guardians, however.”

There were immediate protests. Many screamed that the Rose clan had never steered them wrong, others ranting that hating her for something she was born with was stupid. The people of Vale did not discriminate and they did not hate for things you can’t control. While knowledge of the Rose clan being the royal family had slowly faded the knowledge of them being protectors hadn’t. It was well known that a Rose would sooner see you safely home than attend to their many stab wounds.

 

(<=Yang=>)

 

Yang had at one point in the day found out her arm had been finished early. The ones building it couldn’t get in touch with anyone in Atlas and had to scramble for scraps from the fall. They had apparently used parts from Penny’s body, with the robot girls permission of course, not as she could use it. Yang’s arm was sleek and washed in silver steel, she could feel it, not with her mind but with her soul. The Atlas techs had included a wrist shotgun to replace the one they heard she lost and Yang could feel it, she could feel how many shells were loaded, how the parts moved. It was surreal to experience. Yang could feel her aura reach through the arm, testing the waters before plunging in and inviting her divinity alongside it. Her new right palm ignited with the heat of her hearth. Her magic refused to flow through, it was far more focused on trying to get her other wing going and Yang was content to let it finish.

“Hey dad,” Yang had nearly crushed the doorknob as she entered the house, “Mind explaining what the fuck is wrong with you.”

“Yang, what’s going on? What did Qrow tell you?” Tai looked up from his spot on the couch.

“Everything and I mean everything.” Yang had never been angrier than at that moment but she managed to keep her cool, barely. “Every last thing you’ve done, everything you did to mom, to uncle Qrow, to aunt Summer and worst of all, to Ruby. I know dad, I know that you tried to end her dreams because you can’t trust uncle Qrow. I know of how you nearly killed mom, of how your action hospitalized your team multiple times.”

“You're seriously going to trust that psychotic son of-” Tai never got to finish his sentence as Yang’s anger boiled over and she interrupted him.

“I AM! Because he’s never lied to me! Because he always made sure that I know who I am, who my family is! Because he’d rather throw himself under the bus than paint you like the ass you are!” Yang’s hands had ignited as she spoke, her anger had loosened her control over her flames. “He’s done nothing but love and guides me through my entire life. He made sure I was safe after I built Ember Celica. You constantly tried to get me to choose a different job, constantly put down my family and you try to justify it with your bullshit!”

“Bullshit? Yang the Branwan’s are fucking crazy all of them!” Tai didn’t realize it but Yang snapped at his words. She was a Branwen, she was of the hearth and he had the fucking gall?

“We are? Huh, maybe you're right, but we aren’t liars, we know reality from fiction. We protect our own.” Yang’s eyes had long shifted to crimson but now they were draconic, “You were right to say mom fucked up when she left you know? I always agreed on that but now I see why she fucked up.”

Yang turned and stalked towards the stairs. “Her only mistake was not taking me with her.” Yang had to pack her things. Clothes, blueprints and schematics, her supply of Invar, she didn’t have much else to pack so she went down to the garage.

“Yang Xiao-Long,” Tai spoke from behind her, he sounded angry. Yang thought for a moment, could she do this? Yes, she could, she would. She’d had enough of dealing with her father and so she pushed the door open and spoke one final line over her shoulder.

“That’s not my name.”

 

(<=Roman=>)

 

Roman wasn’t sure where he was, all he knew was that his new benefactor had pulled him from the battle in Vale. He was alive so there was that, and Neo, if she listened, would be fine so he had no worries. The thief was yet to know what his mission would be, not that it mattered when a goddess told you that you worked for them you didn’t argue.

“Hello again Roman, fancy seeing you here.” It was irritating how like little red this goddess was but he’d dealt with worse, “Your queen has taken over, your old boss was driven from the kingdom and you upheld your end.”

“Yeah, let’s just get on with it, what do you want?” Roman would rather be done with things, the sooner he was told the better. A folder landed in front of him, “The GEO? What about them?”

“I want them dead, all of them.” The glint in the woman's silver eyes wasn’t one of rage or anger. She was out for revenge, “They’ve killed enough of my family.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ... Alright, I'm taking a week to work on other projects.
> 
> To be honest, this was fun to write, Thinking of how people would react to things was fun. So we now know what Roman's doing, and Neo's in an interesting position after all, what's Cinder to believe? That Roman's lapdog went straight or that she's working alone now?
> 
> I'm going to mostly cut Juane, and team JNPR out, their harder to write and also have little impact, I'm also sick of Juane, he the main character of most fanfic and I'm tired of it, sorry to people that love Juane, but this isn't his story and you aren't writing it.
> 
> hope you enjoyed! here's a brief list of things I'm going to try to do for those interested: 2 BNHA one-shots in my series, A BNHA story, 2 harry potter one-shots, a P5 fic, an OC-centred pokemon story and an original idea that might be interesting.
> 
> Have a good week, and see you next time! Pheonix out.


	17. Chapter 17

Gods were… fickle creatures. So powerful yet unable to emphasize with mortals. Remnant had felt it’s greatest joy when the brothers left and was wary of the four when they formed. Creation, Destruction, Choice and Knowledge, the brothers believed that to be all there was to humanity. Remnant disagreed, humanity had forged knowledge based on destruction and destroyed by creating, they had chosen without knowledge and created with destruction. Humans could bend and twist any idea into whatever shape they truly wanted.

What humanity was truly about was simply creativity. They could twist metals into weapons and forge lightning from simple dust and yet their world was weak. The Greeks saw it, Remnant saw it, the people saw it, the brothers did not. Remnant could not survive without gods, the brothers had seen to it, what they hadn’t counted on was Remnant choosing its gods. They gave it the same four gifts as humanity yet didn’t think it’d use them. The moon, The hearth, The owl and Death had made their way to the planet, had helped hold it together even if they didn’t know it. Remnant owed them so much, after all, they provided the strings that bound the planet.

 

(<=Salem=>)

 

“Cinder’s plan has, as per usual, failed.” Dr. Wattson seemed gleeful at the prospect as if Cinder’s failure meant good things for him. The Atlisian’s attitude was peculiar as both he and Cinder were on the same side.

“Oh? Has she?” Salem’s lack of care worried Wattson, “Beacon fell, the CCT is in ruins and Cinder has the full fall maidens power, tell me Wattson, how exactly is that a failure?”

“T-the relic?” Wattson’s words sounded more like a question than the statement they were meant to be. Wattson’s terror had bled through to his voice and betrayed his calm attitude.

“Hm, that is a good point.” Wattson let out a breath that he didn’t know he was holding. “Except, I don’t recall telling Cinder to go after the relic. Tyrian, do you recall me telling Cinder to go after the Relic?”

“No Mistress I don’t think you did.” Tyrian was crazy enough to not feel fear in the presence of the immortal witch. The scorpion was reliable for always knowing whatever Salem needed to if it had to do with her. Having a devoted crazy follower that worshiped you did prove annoying at times. Before Salem got the chance to respond the door burst open.

“She’s up!” Emerald, Cinder’s minion, had a wild excited look in her eyes as she spoke. Salem smiled, she’d finally know what had happened to the new maiden. The damage Cinder suffered seemed odd, there was something familiar about it but Salem couldn’t quite place it.

“Cinder, what happened?” Salem had met her servant in the hall as she made her way to the meeting room. Ordinarily, Salem wouldn’t leave the meeting room but this report was just too important.

“It was a girl, red hair white cloak.” Cinder’s voice was harsh and raspy, it sounded painful for her to talk. “Her eyes were pure silver and emanated this red glow. A shadowy energy floated around her.”

“Her name.” Salem had a feeling that she knew who this was. If the Grimm woman was right this could be very bad.

 

(<=Raven=>)

 

The tribe had always been made of bandits, Raven doubted she could change that. What she could do was play into their greed, appeal to their desire to own more to be richer. It was pathetically easy, a little talk of offering protection at a cost, only taking what’s needed, not hurting or killing anyone and how in the long run that leads to more profit. They needed reminders every so often but they went from scraping by to owning a gods damn train so they saw its merit. Her scroll dinged and Raven checked the message.

“Vernal, prepare the camp we are having a guest.” Raven groaned, “It appears that my ex-husband fucked up and now my daughter has changed her name.”

“Yang Branwen… She’s made a terrible mistake, that doesn’t flow at all.” Raven had often believed that introducing her daughter and niece to her second all those years ago to be a mistake, this was one such moment. Vernal had picked up an odd combination of their senses of humour.

“Just prepare the camp.” Raven stalked off. Sometimes she hated family, hers wasn’t even the worst.

 

(<=Weiss=>)

 

“Gods damn it!” Weiss couldn’t replicate what she’d done at the fall. She only ever managed to summon one of the three heads of the hellhound. Last time, during the battle, she’d summoned the whole thing, well it clawed its way out of the glyph but not the point.

“What were you thinking before? How did you feel?” Winter was an expert on summons. Every word she spoke was important. Winter was one of the best in family history when it came to summoning but she sacrificed so much for it, Weiss was certain her sister had forgotten that haste glyphs were possible.

“Angry, I wanted to shred the paladin.” Weiss paused, it was hard to remember exactly how she felt. “It stood against me, kept me from my team and I couldn’t allow that.”

“Your team? Weiss you’ve known these girls for six years, you spent almost a year and a half with them.” Winter seemed annoyed with her sister, “I’ve seen them breaking into our home, I’ve caught you sneaking away to see them. I’ve heard them when you get hurt and heard you when they get hurt. They are as much your sisters as I am.”

Winter’s words clearly had an effect on Weiss as a large paw joined the head. The non-fully summoned hellhound used the paw to attempt to pull itself out of the glyph. Progress had been made in much the same way Winter had. Find something to focus on and draw from that, in Weiss’s case the old saying meant everything.

The blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb, Weiss had found her family.

 

(<=Qrow=>)

 

Ruby, her girlfriend and her team were heading out to Heaven, a short journey that if done quickly would see them arrive a couple of weeks before the start of term. Qrow himself would follow behind, Raven’s portal to Ruby was spotty at best do to her cloak so she needed a direct route to drop Yang off with. Salem definitely knew of Ruby now as did the GEO and the council had already added her to their hit list.

“At least she brought her hunting gear,” Qrow had been sure to teach his daughter the merits of hunting and gathering, you never knew how long a mission would take. The skill had even proven useful to Raven, she managed to up the tribe’s profit while reducing what they stole. A hunter, a real hunter had to know what they needed, had to understand how to get it.

Remnant was a godless world, or at least it was now. Qrow stared up at the sky, the shattered moon stretched across the sky. It was odd, the moon seemed more whole, less broken, closer together. He’d noticed it before, the moon always seemed brighter when Ruby or Summer were on Remnant.

“If we’re godless, why’s the moon seemingly repairing itself?” It was far from the first time Qrow had wondered this. Qrow didn’t know what was going on but he did know one thing, there was something else here.

 

(<=Ruby=>)

 

The journey to Heaven wasn’t terrible, Ruby had her bow and a quiver of normal arrows, she was currently hunting for the group's dinner while Thalia helped them set up camp. Crescent rose and Lunaris were back with them. Ruby only took Ebony with her on hunting trips to avoid the bulk her other weapons had. It was rare the redhead got to hunt normally and she was fairly sure she couldn’t sneak up on her prey quite this much in her boots. She’d left her cloak behind as well, it made hunting too easy. She had made her kill, a bear, so now she just had to check the snares and bring it all back to camp.

“A bear? I was kind of expecting a deer due to how many are said to live here.” Reyna looked around at the looks the rest of the group was giving her. Everyone seemed annoyed with her words, weren’t both sacred to Artemis? Why are they acting like killing a bear is okay but a deer isn’t.

“Deer are sacred to Artemis in many ways, far more so than bear,” Weiss spoke the only information on the topic she had. Thalia decided to elaborate.

“Deer pull the moon chariot, they guide Artemis and Ruby without question. Deer are theirs, companions like wolves, not prey.” Thalia had moved to help Ruby prep for dinner. “We don’t cause harm to the deer and we don’t hold it against those that do.”

“Salem will be coming after me now so we need to keep a lookout for anything from her, this trip should take a week and a half.” Ruby glanced up as she stocked the fire.

“Yeah we know,” Weiss rolled her eyes, “Yang’s gonna hate this, Ruby’s making her fresh wild stew and she isn’t here to enjoy it.”

The group ate quickly and went to sleep. They wanted to wake early the next day in order to make the trip to the nearest town easier, Ruby could pick up on the movements of a few Grimm heading that way. What the group was unaware of would ultimately come back to bite them.

 

(==That night==)

 

The campsite held three tents, each of them dark and quiet. Well one of them seemed to emit a faint silver glow but that could very easily have been either the tent or it’s occupant. The fire had gone out to throw the clearing into shadows illuminated only by the moonlight.

“Told you this would be perfect, the fools don’t even have a guard.” A man dressed in an all-black outfit slowly approached the tents. “Remember the mission, kill the target and eliminate her allies, we need to prevent this from getting out.”

“Boss, we found her but um well…” One of the goons looking around the area spoke as he stepped away from the glowing tent. “She’s glowing.”

“What? She’s asleep so it can’t be her aura…” The leader took a glance into the tent. “Alright, definitely not aura. What is this?”

“You know, I’m pretty sure looking into a campers tent counts as an invasion of privacy.” the entire group turned to the source of that voice to find a black-haired man leaning on a tree while holding a flask. “But then again I am drunk so what do I know?”

“Sir, we'll have to ask you to leave this is a matter of international security. The council-” The man laughed at that. The laugh was gruff and an odd mix of glee and grim. 

“No, see that’s my daughter your trying to kill.” Qrow reached behind himself for his sword as he stepped forward, “And we’re in Vale, assassination attempts on the high Queen are punishable by execution you know? It’s unfortunate that I caught you.”

One of the men rushed forward to attack only to stumble on a tree root and slam face-first into a tree. Another guard rushes forward bringing his sword up in an arc only to kit open air as a small raven surges upwards. Qrow launches himself from a tree to the right of his previous position arching his sword horizontally at his attacker's chest. Qrow had over the past year stopped hiding his transformation and making use of it in combat. His niece had made liberal use of her own talents and so had her team.

“In a forest at night? Of all the places for you to do so, your lucky I found you before they woke up.” Qrow sidestepped another attack and brought his blade up to counter. He pushed all his weight to the side and transformed making use of the momentum to move to the other side of the clearing. Once there, he fired off three quick shots, both as attacks and to alert his daughter. A swing for the leader missed and split a tree causing it to fall on top of one of the goons.

“The girl is a criminal! She forced control from a weakened body during a time of crisis!” There was a click as the man felt something push against his skull.

“Maybe the council should have done their job, after all, it’s not like they are directly responsible for two major crisis in Vale.” Ruby held Ebony up to the man’s skull while aiming Lunaris at the leader, “Oh wait, that’s why I took over.”

Lightning crackled as Thalia stepped out of the tent. The punk daughter of Zeus was followed by Weiss and Blake. Weiss quickly set a haste glyph beneath Ruby’s feet while preparing a dome around the area. Blake held Gamble Shroud in both hands as both a cleaver and katana. A spear was lodged into the ground its owner remained unseen.

“Now, you’ll go back to the council and inform them that they are going to stop,” Ruby stared the leader down her eyes lit with her harshest glare. “They don’t get a say, they are stopping.”

“You have no power over them! You have no power at all!” Ruby’s glare deepened at his words. They had yet to learn. Some people in the world would only learn via actions, words often didn’t cut it. Ruby decided to show the man why you don’t ignore her words.

“The next attack against me will be held as a declaration of war,” Ruby moved her finger to the trigger of ebony, “This is your warning, next time my men will rip the council apart piece by piece.”

She fires, each pellet flying out of the gun and impacting his aura, Ruby’s control was enough that none would get through but rather remain in place draining his aura slowly. She holstered both her mother's weapons and turned back to her tent. There was a reason why you don’t fuck with a Rose but it seemed the rest of the world would need a reminder.

“The council has made their move, let’s see if they try another.” Qrow continued to watch the group of Council goons as they left, “The GEO and Salem haven’t made theirs yet.”

 

(<=Nico=>)

 

Nico had finished his mission and needed to report to his father and sister. He also needed to drop off Reyna’s mission report. Nico had a hard time believing what Reyna’s report was saying, the gods had deemed Remnant to be a world slowly ripping itself apart due to a lack of godly presence, so why was it pulling itself together?

“Will, have you looked at this?” Nico had his suspicions about the report but he couldn’t be sure. He wanted a second opinion.

“Yeah, the repair timelines up with when they’re on Remnant.” And that was the worrying part, the timeline lines up far too well. Then there was the real question that this all brought up, why did Remnant’s old gods abandon the planet and its people?

 

(<=Glynda=>)

 

Glynda Goodwitch had at one point expressed concerns about this plan. She thought it foolish and easy to see through, the normal protections weren’t enough so why no move the relic? Why not secure it under different protections? The reason given, that it was too obvious, likely to the enemy’s design. Glynda had to admit, that was right. They were expecting the relic to be moved. Cinder Fall had gone straight to Ozpin’s office likely expecting the relic to be there.

“Ozpin your one crazy genius.” Glynda smiled up at what was once Amber’s cryo-chamber. The chamber was suspended half a dozen meters off the ground. Glynda let her gaze drop back to the ornate gold door that hid the relic of choice. Only the fall maiden could open it and she had no idea it was even there.

 

(<=Ozpin=>)

 

Ozpin found himself floating in a void. Or was he Ozma? It got so confusing at times. The mage recognized this place well, he always ended up here, a place to say goodbye to the old and to greet the new. The gods had meant this as a gift, a mission but over time Ozma saw it for what it was, a curse. Hell on earth. Hell, what he’d give to at least glimpse the real one. The brothers had given him his mission and to ensure he actually carried it out and brought them back they’d set the planet up for destruction.

“Ozma?” He recognized that voice, it was the voice of his current, no, previous life. Why would he be here? What did he have to say? “They’ll never trust you, not if they find the truth.”

“I don’t need their trust I just need their help.” The mage had contemplated telling some of his followers the full story but could never bring himself to do it. “The many outways the few, they understand that they’ll see why I must do this.”

“They won't like it, we don’t like it.” The silver-haired man who’d been forced into sharing his life spoke once more. He always spoke the truth.

“Sometimes to save humanity you must do things you don’t like, it’s a sad truth.” Ozma had long ago accepted that he wasn’t truly a good person, not anymore. “The path to hell is lined with good intentions and sometimes that path is the one that must be walked, whether you want to or not.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> woah... This has been one hell of a summer, I go back to school on the fourth.
> 
> You wanna know something? I originally only expected 16 chapters before school started back up, here's C17 then there's the little BNHA series, the HP fic and the MCU fic... Let's see how much I got in me.
> 
> Qrow's fight is something I'm proud of, it's interesting because you have to look at it from a different angle, the set is as important here as anything else, the little details matter in a way that they normally don't and it makes you build the scene in a way you don't. A little of my defensive nature to unfair criticism of this show peaked through with Salem's scene and I wanted to implement a little scene that... well that's up to you to figure out
> 
> Anyway, hope you enjoyed!
> 
> Fun Fact:  
> According to Grammarly ruby hunted and killed a beer and beer is sacred to Artemis, well that's good to know!
> 
> -*Whisper*-  
> Psst psst, anyone got any anime recs? I need new stuff to watch in the background


	18. Chapter 18

Roman ducked back behind the wall as he heard footsteps. He couldn’t risk getting caught, not on his way out. This mission was supposed to be short and simple, get in, reach the main server room to collect the data and get out. Getting out was proving to be fairly difficult for him.

“Damn, the patrol routes don’t loop.” It was an odd strategy but Roman knew it’s advantages. For one thing, the routes were nearly impossible to memorize by observation, they likely changed daily as well. Then there was the lack of hiding places, it was unnecessarily difficult to evade capture if you were cornered. All this security for and organization dedicated to killing the Grimm. Oh, they did so much more than that, to the extent that if Roman read the data right, there’s more Grimm-born out there than just the Rose clan.

“Now let’s find my way out. Boss wouldn’t like it too much if I have to level the place.” Roman slipped into a side room and made his way to the top by the door as he heard people approach. “Though with what I found she might prefer that plan.”

The more Roman worked for Artemis the more he grew to hate the GEO. If he was right, and he could be wrong, he did only get a glimpse, then the GEO was responsible for at least one family of Grimm-born. Experimenting on Grimm was one thing, forcefully mixing them with people was another. Artemis refused to tell him how her family had gotten that way and Roman hoped that this wasn’t it.

“Some protection group.” Once he got out of the building Roman took the opportunity to look over his stolen files. “Oh? They only want the Rose clan dead due to their lack of involvement.”

Roman glanced back at the massive building, it was already by far the largest in the city. As he went through Roman realized that the sublevels sprawled below most of the city and likely linked with other faculties across Mistral. He had to move, other targets to hit.

 

(<=Ruby=>)

 

Ruby was running full sprint towards the nearby town. Her friends were far behind her none able to keep up. The group had received a distress signal upon getting within range of the signal booster in town. There was a Grimm attack and not one Hunter was nearby which meant her team was their only hope. Ruby pushed herself a little harder, more of her body dissolving as she ran. Ruby’s control while a cloud had never been great but it was likely the only way she’d make it so rather than try to control it, she simply moved, pushed herself. As she fell apart she gave up on all sense of control, simply choosing a direction. And for the first time, Ruby felt her soul resonate with her, fully embrace her body and mind as she burst forward.

Ruby had never moved so fast in her life. The landscape blurred past as the very wind bowed to her semblance and pushed her forward. She’d made a game of it, weaving in between trees, splitting and reforming as she rushed across the forest. Ruby was very rarely one single cloud, often she was both below the trees and above them. As she continued the realization finally hit her, her semblance wasn’t to be controlled it was to be directed. Ruby’s screams of joy resonated through the air and echoed against the wind.

Upon arriving in town Ruby reformed and saw the carnage. There were many Grimm throughout the town, Beowolfs, Ursai, Boarbatusk and a Beringle. This is going to be a problem, no alpha’s in sight so she couldn’t challenge. The Beringle would be a problem, it’s strength rivalled most greek monsters.

“Guys we’ve got a Beringle, I can sense the townsfolk.” Ruby took a breath. She could smell the fear, taste the terror and she felt the pull leading her to the church. “Center of town, the church.”

Ruby pulled Crescent Rose from her back and rushed into the fray. She had a mission now and she’d complete it to the best of her ability. A Beowolf made the mistake of getting close only to find it’s head sheared off. Ruby rolled forward while tossing both Ebony and Lunaris to the side. As she came up from her roll she launched into the air with a shot from Crescent Rose.

Apparently, there were griffins involved in this attack as Ruby slammed full force into one. The Griffin squawked as Ruby’s shadowy claws ripped into its chest. Ruby’s grin widened, she didn’t get to use her claws often. Ruby’s claws had the unique trait of being able to drain negative energy from Grimm, it was how Ruby usually kept her reserves up. The Griffin screeched once more as it grew weaker and weaker until Ruby had drained every drop from it.

“Woah, that’s a rush.” Ruby staggered on her feet for a moment before rushing back at the Beringle. “Can’t take anymore, can’t afford to overfeed again.”

Ruby brought her scythe down on the Beringle only to hit the road. The large gorilla Grimm was faster than expected, she likely wouldn’t hit it normally. Ruby activated her semblance, dissolving into a cloud, she gave it one instruction,  _ Behind.  _ Ruby felt her soul react and pull her in towards the Beringle. She felt the wind shift as she split into three groups and reformed just behind the creature. Angeling her scythe in rifle form upwards she fired. The Beringle was liberated from such constricting things as the ground.

Lunaris flew from its position on the ground into Ruby’s hand and a fiery explosion encased the Beringle as Ruby emptied the gun. Ebony flew at her before it’s direction shifted and the blade was driven into the monster’s shoulder. As Ruby walked forward with Lunaris in hand Crescent Rose was locked into orbit around her, the scythe spun at a deadly rate.

“Beowulf's hear me.” Ruby’s eyes were lit with crimson energy. She was projecting her Grimm presence. “Your Alpha is hiding like a coward, you will join him for I am Queen and I do not tolerate cowards.”

If her words worked then this town would get a lot easier to save, she was running point. If her team was working efficiently she shouldn’t need to worry about the civilians. Beowolf’s were easy, their command structure could be manipulated.

“Ah, Grimm-born is you.” there was a man behind her. Shadowy energy leaked off his form. “You declare yourself queen while ignoring the whims of our true mistress, for that you must die Rose!”

Ruby blurred forward. Whoever this was they were also Grimm-born, but how? The Rose family should be the only ones. Could there be even more out there? Are any of them working for Salem? And it would appear that her family was known to them.

 

(==Weeks ago==)

(<=Salem=>)

 

“Rose? They’re still around, I thought the last has died.” Salem’s arms shook with rage, “None of the Grimm-born stand a chance but they will try, Tyrian.”

“Yes, mistress.” Tyrian looked gleeful at the prospect of what was coming. the shadows in the room appeared even darker and the light seemed like it wanted to flee.

“I want her ripped limb from limb, her organs strewn across the battlefield, her eyes torn from their sockets and crushed. I want her head on a pike!” Salem’s voice carried a physical weight as if her words alone would crush people. “Kill her and anyone with her.”

Salem had long hated the Rose clan. Her descendants were out for her blood and killed the fellow Grimm for no reason but protecting the humans. As if such lowly creatures deserved to live. They would all die and she’d make it as painful for them as possible.

 

(<=Ruby=>)

 

Fighting the other Grimm-born proved a challenge. He was an Ursa which made him stronger than her automatically. His ability seems weaker than expected and he didn’t have an active aura.

“Hm, why not use your aura.” Ruby gauged his reaction. The Ursa man growled in anger and the glow of his eyes lit up brighter. “Could it be that you don’t have one? I may not be perfect but it appears I’m far closer than you are.” Ruby moved to the side and rolled forward to get behind her opponent as he made a wild slash.

“You are going back to Salem after I beat you. You're going to tell her that the last Rose is coming, I will make sure her end comes. Her days are numbered,  _ A soul made not born to end a plague of endless hate, _ That can only refer to her and I know exactly who will be the one to defeat her.”

As the beast went for another attack Ruby dissolved. Her fellow Grimm-born stumbled into her cloud and she reformed, right on top of him. With a foot on his back, Ruby aimed Crescent Rose right at the back of his head.

“Now go.” Ruby fell away and a swarm of petals moved to tow square. She had to tell the others that Salem had Grimm-born on her side. This could destroy everything they had planned and so much more.

 

(<=Ozpin=>)

 

It’d been over a month since he died. A month of being unaware, a month of worry, of no knowledge, of uncertainty. After all that his next life freaked out during their first talk. This boy, Oscar Pine, would likely prove troubling but that was good. If Ozpin’s ideals had shifted enough perhaps he’d finally be able to stop Salem. Maybe he could save humanity and prevent the gods return entirely.

“Okay okay. Wh-who are you, why are you in my head?” Ah progress, how wonderful. He’d have to be careful about this, the wrong thing said at the right time has lost him years.

“I am Professor Ozpin of Beacon, or at least I was. Now I am the allegation of Souls once called Ozma.” That piqued the boy’s interest. “And unfortunately you’ve fallen victim to my curse. Every time I die my soul merges with that of a like-minded individual somewhere in the world.”

“So is my life yours now? Is there something I have to do?” This was the delicate part, ordinary the choice would be Oscar’s but there was too much at stake now for that.

“I’d like to say no but I can’t, not this time. The threat I fight is close to achieving the goal I can’t allow her to.” Ozpin hoped Oscar would be forgiving, his life had been stolen. His dreams were no longer possible.

“What’s she after?” Ozpin had answered that question many times, his answer has never changed. No matter how much he wished it would.

“The gods of old, she has a score to settle. Her doing so would have the side effect of destroying everything.”

“What do I need to do?”

 

(<=Tyrian=>)

 

Tyrian Callows hadn’t always been the way he is. At one point the scorpion faunus was an ordinary child.  He lived a good life with his mother and brother. Had a best friend that he did everything with. Life was good, they were well off. His mother practically owned the village, everyone owed her something and yet always asked her for help. Everything was perfect.

Then human’s tortured and murdered his brother in front of him. Why would they do that? Well simply because he was a faunus. The only reason Tyrian was still alive was that they found his fear to be funny. Humans were cruel. Things only got worse when the white fang rolled into town. They gave an ultimatum, humans pay a tax to live there or die. All humans died along with most faunus. Tyrian’s very human best friend was publicly executed to set an example.

Is it any wonder he snapped? Any wonder that he decided everyone must die?

“Oh, so many things to do. How should I start?” Tyrian mumbled to himself as he ran through the forest attempting to cut off the girl. “Slow and painful or fast and more painful?”

Circumstance had made him this way, but he chose his side.

 

(<=Yang=>)

 

Of all the things Yang expected to learn the fact that she fucking loved this clan wasn’t one. These guys were crooks sure but they had honour, er mostly. They had a code, a relatively new code but not the point. Okay fine her mother let her drive the train, it was fun. Although, even with all that the best part was that everyone believed her when she mentioned her divine blood, or thought she was crazy either way you don’t try to correct her. People fear the crazy.

“Hey, Blondie! Got any plans?” Shady had hit on her a lot over the weeks. Yang was sick of it.

“Try one more time and I tie you to the underside of the train.” Apparently, people don’t get the concept of not into douchebags. Pulling her gloves off Yang looked at her freshly painted arm, her mother insisted on the red and black colour scheme at least once, it wasn’t so bad.

“Hey Sparkplug!” Yang turned to see Vernal. The false maiden had started with that nickname once she learned the mechanics of Yang’s fire breath. “Raven’s lookin’ for you said something about strengthening the hearth.”

Yang jumped to her feet immediately and dropped down to the walkway between cars. Raven was likely at the front of the train. The bandit group had been travelling for a few days now, they were heading to Mistral for some unknown reason.

“Hey, mom, what’s up?” Raven turned as her daughter entered. It was well known among the tribe that Raven Branwen never smiled, Yang had made it her mission to get her to. “Nothing too off the rails I hope.”

“You are insufferable.” Damn still no success. “Let’s talk about your fire. Why is your dragon flame stronger than your hearth fire?”

“Maybe cause that one’s a mix of hydrogen and an unknown element.” Yang leaned back, she hated this conversation and her mother insisted on it. Hestia never tried to direct Yang to this but Raven seemed a little more impatient.

“Alright, that may play a part.” Raven’s fist lit up and the generated heat lit a stack of paper. “But why can’t you do that? We both know so what’s holding you back?”

“Alright fine! My family is divided, they hate each other. My father thinks everyone else is crazy.” Yang started her mother down as she spoke. “He can’t even trust me.”

“So, why is he still a part of the source?” Raven placed her sword on the desk as she talked. It was as if she’d had this talk before. “I still love him, you know? Never stopped, never will. But he is not part of my source, he isn’t family no matter how much a wish it otherwise, so why is he holding you back.”

“I don’t know! I just… I don’t know mom, I can’t even look at him anymore, I practically disowned him.” Yang collapsed against the wall, “I don’t know what I’m missing mom.”

 

(<=Penny=>)

 

If you’d told Penny Pollincina that she’d one day end up temporarily attached to a Scythe she’d have told you off and ran away. Now, she’d just wonder how you knew she was there. Her friends had come through in the end and were going to drop her off with her father, what they didn’t know was that she intended to follow them back out of Atlas. The council would otherwise try to use her as a weapon, which ironically she was at the moment. Apparently, Scythe’s don’t get horny, despite Ruby’s beliefs.

Ruby wouldn’t notice the Grimm-born Ursa climbing to his feet but Penny did. The glowing ball of soul attached to a scythe that lacked eyes and ears noticed something before the wolf if this wasn’t reality that’d be a plot hole.

“Behind you!” Penny’s voice rang loudly through the speaker. Oddly the Ursa reacted as well, he twisted around and noticed the lack of an attack. He went to turn around but Ruby was faster and she had him pinned again. Ruby’s growl was far deeper than normal and her teeth seemed sharper than normal.

“I told you to do something.” Ruby dug her heel into his back, “That means you do it.”

“You were told to give a statement to Salem, do it.” Penny’s voice filtered through Ruby’s ear. The Ursa stopped struggling for a moment, it’s eyes glazed over. As Ruby moved away she kept her aim on her fellow Grimm-born. The Ursa stood up and turned to walk away mumbling about the statement he had to give.

“What was that?” Ruby watched the Ursa walk away in wonder. She’d seen something similar from Piper but why would it happen here? “We need to head back, talk to the others about that.”

“HEY! Guys, what do we know about divine powers?” Blake and Weiss looked up at that while Reyna didn’t react. The Romans weren’t nearly as liberal with powers as the greeks which as a byproduct made them tend to be a little less knowledgeable. “I’m pretty sure Penny used charm speak and I find it hard to imagine that she’s a demigod.”

“That’s impossible, she’d have to be a child of Aphrodite and even then it’s rare.” Weiss was one of the few “Experts” on divine powers. She knew more about them than everyone else, mostly trying to figure out why some gods passed nothing on. “And unless Aphrodite has taken interest in artificial souls.”

“Yeah, but it’s exactly what she’d do, isn’t it? Love trumps all right? Even the concept of standardized creation.” Blake leaned back, this was a topic she enjoyed to some extent. Blake’s skill in reading people hadn’t translated well to the gods so she learned to read them. “She’d so create a child from a conjured soul and robot body just because she could.”

“That sounds like her husband.” Blake shook her head at that. Hephaestus may be a mechanic but he didn't get people well enough for this kind of work. To many delicate parts or something, if Leo could be trusted that is.

“We’d have to ask her and we’re pretty far from the gate so that’s out.” Weiss looked a little upset about that which likely translated to very angry.

“If I may interject, are you saying my ‘mother’ is a goddess?” Weiss gave her confirmation. The gods were apparently busy on both sides of the gate, horny bastards. Not one member of team RWBY had any issues with the gods, except Ares. Fuck Ares. in the end, the team was on friendly terms with a few of the gods and had the normal relationship with others.

“We’re saying that if you have a mother she’d have to be Aphrodite.” Ruby once more looked incredibly annoyed. “We just can’t figure out why she’d help build you, no offence Penny it’s just not something that she’d normally do.”

“Quite right! But I took an interest in my husbands work,” Thalia, Reyna and the present members of team RWBY jumped out of their seats. “Oh please not now, I’m too tired to care. Getting through the gate is tiring, Artemis is lucky that she actually has a Remnetian soul to use.”

“What?” Aphrodite looked at Ruby with surprise for a moment before she grinned. Oh wasn’t this interesting.

“You mean she doesn’t visit you? I wonder what she does while here then, after all, she comes over all the time.”

“Mom?” Aphrodite looked over to the glowing green sphear. What the actual fuck was going on.

“Why is my daughter a ball?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So if you haven't realized it by now Penny differentiates between WEapon and not weapon via horny vs. not horny, if it gets horny it ain't a weapon
> 
> Now for the real question, when was this supposed to be out?
> 
> I'll be making weekly Sunday post about my works on my twitter (Hopefully this works): https://twitter.com/BlazingDusk
> 
> Also, all update info will be posted there. Might take a break for a while TBH, writing is fun and all but I've encountered an issue, I have too many ideas. Is that some way to say I'm too creative? God I hope not
> 
> Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed


	19. Chapter 19

Yang was unsure about this plan. Stealing from an academy was probably a poor choice but Raven was taking things a step farther. They had apparently located the winter maiden and had deemed her too much at risk to Salem, and so the plot was born. Step one was to kidnap the old woman, step two was convincing her to join them, and step four was to steal whichever relic was at Shade. Brilliant just incredible, the level of stupidity shown by Raven was awe-inspiring. And yet Yang was going along with it.

“This is a terrible plan, it’s far easier to steal something when it isn’t behind several protections.” Yang looked up at her mother. Their vantage point was across from the school. Vernal and the winter maiden, Vermilion, were entering the vault chamber. Raven would end up portaling herself and Yang to them after they were in.

“Ah but what if they think it’s under those protections?” So that was the plot, they were stealing the relic without alerting Salem that they had done so. Alright, so it was a genius strategy in a way. Yang just hoped her mother didn’t intend to use the relic.

“Well if they don’t hurry up we’ll just be relics of the past.” Raven glared over her shoulder at her daughter.

“You're insufferable you know that?” Yang laughed as if she hadn’t heard that enough. Scales flickered across her body, a response to joy that had recently developed and Yang couldn’t stop it.

“Let’s just hope this doesn’t  _ dragon _ .” There was a muttered ‘I hate you’ from Raven at that one. It was only a matter of time before her puns became funny by virtue of getting her to shut up quicker, it never failed. “Ah come on mom you just need a little spring in your step.”

“They’re ready, which means you can shut up.” Raven sliced through the air to open a bridge between herself and Vernal. Yang smiled and shrugged before walking through. The vault room was a high walled cave, the floor glowed in intricate patterns while the flora seems distinctly winter themed, and also glowing. The chamber was beautiful but it didn’t compare to the design of the door.

It was like someone had carved a tree out of a forest, all the different shades of wood and the glow of light. The tree was a forest that measured eight feet across, hundreds of wood types twirled around each other, some branches empty of leaves others with needles. The door was carved in a pattern that followed the lines of differently coloured wood, each carving glowed with a soft blue light.

“It only gets more beautiful with time, wonderful isn’t it?” Vermilion stared up at the tree. Yang couldn’t believe it, Ozpin did all this?

“Yes, almost as much as the flames of family.” Raven wasn’t one to admit the beauty in something normally so for her to actually say something meant she truly agreed. Yang wasn’t surprised at her mother's words, this was something hard to forget. “Open it, we need to retrieve the relic.”

“We will just a moment, no one even knows we’re down here.” Vermilion Walked towards the vault and raised her hand. She paused a moment. “Let me go in to retrieve the relic, I want to touch it just one time.”

“Pass it to my daughter afterwards.” Raven had given Yang a full face mask that took the shape of the Wyvern and told everyone to not use her name on heists, the blonde wasn’t going to be associated with the tribe on official records. “And remember our deal, we take you as far as the Valian border.”

“Yes yes, I know, you’ve only reminded me every hour since we established this.” Vermilion laid her hand on the door and it shuddered with power as the wood shifted, a lock Yang hadn’t noticed turned and the large double door slowly swung out. Raven turned to the entrance to keep watch, no one should come down but you never know.

“You know missy, the old wizard said this relic was one of the most dangerous, second only to the one that he himself guards.” Vermilion had retrieved the relic. It was a sword and currently was held out to Yang. Yang reached forward to take it.

“Thank you, we’ll-”  _ Destroy them, they’re in your way. Destroy them! _ “What? What was that?”

_ Kill, destroy, take what is yours. Lay ruin to those in your way! Destroy everything!  _ Yang recoiled and stared down at the sword in hand. Her thoughts drifted as she looked at it, who’d know anything about what was going on? Ruby?

_ Kill her, she’ll only hold you back! You don’t need her, destroy her!  _ Yang snapped into reality at that with a fierce growl. She would not kill her cousin, not for this, not for anything!  _ DO IT! BEFORE SHE DOES!  _ **NO!** The dragon within Yang roared with more force and intensity than ever before, it would not stand for this. Scales started to rapidly spread across Yang’s body, her left arm, upper right. Her legs, back and chest. They trailed up her face and twisted to her horns.

_ Kill her! She will only get in your way! _ Yang’s right-wing burst from her back.  _ Your team is a weakness, they hold you back!  _ Her tail sprang forth, easily twice it’s the previous length.  _ This tribe will kill you without hesitation!  _ Something that her magic had been working on for a while happened, her left-wing joined the right.  _ They do not care, not truly. The only way is to destroy EVERYTHING!  _ Yang’s metal arm bent and twisted as her magic flowed through it. The red metal shifted to scales and the hand turned into claws. The biggest difference change was how the shotgun shifted to match her fire gland.  _ OUR POWER WILL BE UNSTOPPABLE! _

“You said our that time.”  _ IT DOESN’T MATTER!  _ “I’d disagree, that alone means that you're trying to convince me of something. I don’t like it so shut up!”

“Yang? What’s going on?” Raven had turned to see her fully draconic daughter at that moment. White gold flame licked from Yang’s mouth and right wrist. While the blond was definitely draconic she was still distinctly human. The sword was still gripped in her… hands? Raven stared for a moment, her daughter seemed to be acting on instinct which was good. “Let’s go.”

“The relic wants me to kill everyone and destroy everything.” Yang’s voice reverberated through her throat, her draconic growl could be heard in the words.  _ Kill her! Kill her! Kill her! Kill her! Kill her! Kill her! Kill her! Kill her! Kill her! DO IT! _

“Well it’s not creation, that’s a shame.” Raven turned back to her portal. She’d long ago learned how to set up beacons for her semblance and since vernal was the only member of the tribe that Raven could portal to she made sure to always have one set up. “Let’s go, Yang, we’ll work this out.”

_ You will destroy them, it’s only a matter of time Dragon. Only a matter of time. _

 

(<=Neo=>)

 

Neo had officially joined the Vale guard and been given her first mission. She was going back underground, the guard wanted to make use of her and Roman’s old resources and connections to find Cinder. While Neo disliked the mission she understood it and found a weird sort of comfort in the dark underbelly of society. Her silence had always been useful there so she could expand her resources with a little extra blackmail, apparently royal guards are not above anything if it means protecting the crown and bringing justice.

“Ah, Neo how are you doing?” A fat balding man, the info broker if Neo remembered, was in his usual place. Right, smack dab in her way. Roman had always hated the man, it might have rubbed off on her.

“ _ Fine. Move. _ ” Her hands moved while her mouth remained shut. She refused to use her voice in this place, to this man. His eyebrows raised and he smirked at her.

“Oh but I have some useful news for you, here’s a snippet. The queens-” Neo placed her blade at his throat in a moments notice and she spoke, her voice raspy due to underuse but better than before.

“I am Valian, I care not for anything you have on my Queen.” Several people around the pair stood at her words, most were likely Valian. Even the criminals of Vale were loyal to their leaders. Neo swung her parasol over her shoulder and continued. She tapped her ear twice and picked up the voice of her partner, the Sniper. Her real name was May but on missions, they used code names.

“Bastard was asking for trouble, nice work on causing a scene it’ll make our job easier.” They were to go in and out, asses the white fang presence and find someone to contact about Cinder. “Watch out Trio, three faunus that fit the profile just walked in.”

Neo froze and vanished as she kept walking forward. As her illusion walked Neo turned and walked the other way, they were here for White Fang stragglers after all. She just hoped none of them saw her enter, one of the members they’d captured had escaped and she was fully aware of Neo’s job.

“Keep an eye out they’ve got a photo of you and are asking around. Where are you?.” Neo rolled her eyes, she’d been required to make an imperfection in her illusion of herself. May was the only one that could find the little marker to tell her from the illusion. “Oh neat, they assumed Gatt was your partner, that gives us some wiggle room.”

“ _ They’re not saying anything about why they’re after me?”  _ Neo knew May could see her illusion still so she had it sign the words for her.

“No, doesn’t appear so. That’s a good thing Trio, they likely want credit for taking out Roman’s minion or something.” Neo hated being called minion, she preferred partner which is likely why Roman insisted on using minion. “Their talking to fatso now, I can’t tell what he’s telling them.”

“-guard, she reacted violently to my offer of info on the queen so she’s likely one of them.” Neo could make out the broker's voice now. “I mean the queen basically killed Torchwick so why wouldn’t she want that info.”

“So she’s been forced into the guard, maybe we can convince her to play double agent and help her get revenge on the queen.”  The lead faunus spoke and Neo finally recognized them, definitely White Fang.

“Move and my partner makes her shot.” Neo had brought the blade out of her parasol and placed it against the neck of the moose faunus in the group.

“Your partner? You mean the one with the gat-” May fired a shot between the deer’s feet. Neo’s smile widened at that, she and May did share a flare for the dramatics. The White Fang trio looked good and scared of them now.

“You're under arrest, let’s go.” Neo’s throat hurt, she’d spoken too much. The leader slowly moved her hand behind her back and Neo reacted in an instant. The deer faunus was on the ground with her hands held behind her back.

“The White Fang is an illegal terrorist organization in Vale, you're suspected of ties to them.” May had arrived on the scene, she held two pistols, one aimed at each faunus not held down by Neo. “Nice reaction time Trio. Whoever keeps these two down for me stays out of the mission report!”

The reaction was instant, several people around jumped and pinned the two White Fang members. A couple of people even took the initiative to pin the broker. May smiled, god she loved Valian criminals, they were so weirdly loyal to the country whose laws they were breaking.

“Well thanks, we were going to leave that one to you but I guess we can take him too.” May quickly went about cuffing each person they had pinned. “Now then, an argument, we saw none of you and Trio here, or rather Neo, doesn’t work for the guard, understood?”

“Sniper I’m certain that’s illegal.” Nonetheless, there were nods and agreements all around. People in Vale were so unused to having a Royal Guard that they tended to just agree to almost anything.

“What? No, it’s not… Alright, maybe we should check.” May pulled the Fang members to their feet, “Let’s just bring these ones in.”

 

(<=Tyrian=>)

 

This was boring. There was nothing to kill, nothing to do. Why did he have to kill the stupid girl? Why couldn’t Hazel do it? Or better yet make Wattson get off his ass. Tyrian understood why Cinder couldn’t, she was badly hurt already and her minions just weren’t good enough yet. This sucked, no Grimm, no animals and no people. All he wanted was something to kill was that so much to ask- Was that a Squirrel? Could he kill it?

There was a scratching sound up the tree. Oh yes! Definitely a squirrel, it must die! He bounced from one branch to another giggling the whole way as he searched for the tiny animal. Oh hey, apples, neat! Wait there's the small rodent, that means it’s murder time! How fun! Within moments Tyrian was holding a dead squirrel and was bored again. Was a little murder really this hard to commit? Why must he wait- Oh, there they are.

Ruby and her crew had just walked into the abandoned town that Tyrian had been using as a base. Well that was convenient, perhaps he could fest on their- No Misstress said no more of that. He’d just have to kill a shopkeeper and steal their food then, too bad. Oh wait they were talking, maybe this could be useful.

“Well that was awkward,” Ruby stretched her arms above her head. “Never thought I’d have to explain how someone ripped a person apart to their mother while also convincing them that the one who committed the act wasn’t at fault.”

“Yeah, that’s the awkward part, not you know explaining how you get around the oath of eternal maidenhood.” Thalia rolled her eyes, she like most hunters preferred to not talk to Aphrodite. “The oath says nothing about being gay, it’s an obvious loophole and what’s Artemis going to do? Deny one of us dating her daughter? Yeah, right.”

“Yes because you know not like discussing how your the product of your mother losing her virginity is worse or anything.” Weiss by far was the most affected by that conversation, way too much was said and then they had to watch her try and figure out how to hug a ball.

“I’m just glad she forgot about me, after last time.” Reyna had actively attempted to leave once the love goddess had shown up. Penny spoke up at this point.

“Well this just proves Ruby’s initial theory, I don’t understand why you stopped believing that.” Ruby scoffed and muttered something about a lack of evidence. Penny laughed and Tyrian heard enough. He rushed from his hiding place and full tackled Ruby. As the pair fell he threw her away.

‘FINALLY! I can finally kill you, oh the joy of getting to kill the last Rose.” Tyrian cackled as he moved to attack the downed girl with his blades. “The Rose clan will no longer be a problem for my mistress!”

As Tyrian bared down on her Ruby burst apart. The cloud of rose petals surged upwards past the scorpion faunus and reformed into the redhead queen. Oh, this would prove interesting. The girl could react far faster than he thought she would, perhaps the perception abilities of the silver eyes were better than expected.

“You can try all you want!” Ruby had pulled Crescent Rose from her back. “You’ll find yourself a few limbs short.”

Tyrian dived forward, his blades slashing at the young girl. She may be good but he was better, always better. His experience was greater than her’s, he’d win without difficulty. Tyrian cackled, this was going to be his easiest kill yet.

 

(<=Ruby=>)

 

This was tedious. The scorpion's movements were telegraphed almost as much as some of the weaker campers. Ruby had absolutely no difficulty dodging his strikes. Had Salem’s standards gone down? Ruby dodged to the right of his dive and burst apart as his tail came at her. As she moved away from his next attack she pulled Ebony from its holster and made a wild slash at his tail.

“Would you stop going for my tail!” Ruby gleefully called a negative as she tried to drive Crescent Rose through the tail. Tyrian batted her blade away and found himself having to do the incredibly difficult job of dodging lightning, he failed.

“Back the fuck up!’ Thalia held her spear in both hands as she advanced down the hill. Weiss and Blake stood to the side each ready to move in an instant. This Tyrian guy seemed to believe he was better than he really was. He was fast but comparing him to Ruby’s reaction times was like placing a standard vehicle next to the Venom and expecting them to match. It just wasn’t fair.

“You're the best she could send at me?” Ruby blocked another attack with little effort. “I’m a little offended, is she underestimating me?”

“You believe yourself higher than you are!” Tyrian rushed forward far faster than before, still not fast enough though. “I’m more than enough for you!”

Ruby ducked the first blow and rolled to the right to dodge the second before retaliating with a swift uppercut to his stomach. After her first made contact she twisted and fired Ebony. The impact of the shotgun carried Tyrian even higher. As he started to fall Ruby swung her scythe behind herself and fired, as she closed the distance she started to spin until the blade impacted against the scorpion.

There was a crack as Tyrian impacted a wall. That had hurt. As he stood to move back in Ruby was suddenly in front of him with her right leg swinging in for a roundhouse. Many forgot Ruby was a kickboxer most assuming she had no unarmed combat ability. Tyrian managed to avoid the blow only for the momentum to be carried into an attack from the scythe.

Momentum. It’s funny how important that was to consider when fighting Ruby. To stop her you had to cut her momentum off, not that she’d let you. Tyrian lunged forward in a desperate attempt to get at the girl. Thalia had advanced closer and sent a bolt skiting past Ruby to hit Tyrian mid lunge. Lightning was a problem, it was far to fast for most normal people to dodge.

“GAH! You’ll pay for that!” Tyrian swiped Ruby’s legs out from under her and went for a follow up downward slash. Ruby vanished once again. “Stay still you bitch!”

“The fuck did you just say?” Weiss appeared directly in front of the scorpion. The anger was clear in her eyes and the harsh glow of her glyph. “You dare! You dare to use such slurs against someone who’s faced the same injustice as you?”

“Same? SAME! She knows nothing of the hardships-” Myrtenaster was up in a blink of an eye and Tyrian sprouted a new injury on his cheek. Weiss advanced another step bringing her rapier down as she did so. Tyrian felt the sharp sting of another cut on his arm. There were few ways to truly piss off team RWBY, Tyrian had hit one of the big ones.

“She was called a bitch every day for most of her childhood.” She went to stab forward only for Tyrian to dodge to the side. “Do you have any idea what that did to her when she found out what it meant?” A glyph formed and launched Tyrian into the air. “When I first met her she was scared of being seen around dogs simply because of that word.”

Weiss jumped up and surged down dragging Tyrian with her. As the scorpion hit the ground a dome of glyphs formed, then another did just outside and offset from the first. Weiss pushed from the ground and hit one of the inner glyphs. Quickly locating her opponent she pushed once more and surged across the field like a shot from a sniper. Rinse and repeat this process as she went.

“Oh so the bitch doesn’t like being called a bitch does she?” Tyrian slowly stood. His body clearly couldn’t take the strain. “What’s next the kitten doesn’t like being called kitten.”

Weiss hated that kind of language with a passion. She’d grown up hearing every slur against faunus under the sun and everyone she heard pissed her off more and more. Unfortunately, Tyrian wasn’t done.

“What? don't like it when I call my fellow animals what they are? Aw so sad, the little princess doesn’t like it when the beast are called beast!” As he talked a large glyph formed behind Weiss. As he reached the end of his sentence a large paw slowly emerged.

“She’s a panther…” Weiss’s voice was quiet as the head of a large dog made its way out. “Only I get to call her Kitten…” A second head joined the first. “And I’m not a PRINCESS!”

With a roar, a full eight-foot hellhound forced its way out of the glyph. The shadows colligated at its feet and spilled forth from it’s three gaping maws. Ruby stared in awe at the beast while Blake looked surprised.

“That’s… That’s the hellhound we beat as a group, our first monster.” Reyna turned in surprise at Blake’s words. “But how? She shouldn’t be able to do this to greek monsters, she can’t absorb their souls.”

The hellhound dove straight into Weiss’s shadow and came up from Tyrian’s. All three heads lashed out, only two made contact and only one scored a good hit. Before Tyrian could recover Weiss was on him. Her gleaming bronze blade impacting against his blades as she darted by. As she kept her attacks up, swapping in and out with her summon, Tyrian got more and more desperate to find a way out. With a crack, Weiss hit the ground once more. The dust cloud was thick but they heard nothing from within it.

“Weiss was always the best of us at one on one combat,” Blake made her way over to her team only to pause as the smoke cleared to reveal that Tyrian was gone. Blake and Reyna rushed down the hill to Weiss, Thalia and Ruby’s side. Weiss looked angry, far more so than Blake was used to.

“He called her a bitch and now he has the fucking gall to flee!” Blake could feel the growl building in her own throat. She understood the slurs far better than anyone else and there was nothing worse to call a wolf or dog faunus. Reyna looked confused but seemed to think better of asking. The group was close now so unless the GEO tries something they should be good.

 

(==A week later==)

(<=Raven=>)

 

Yang had been off ever since the raid on Shade. As far as Raven could tell the sword of Destruction was to blame, it was as if her daughter was fighting something. The tribe had made it into Mistral and set up camp around their train, the full camp, walls and all.

“Ma’am, we have  _ visitors. _ ” Vernal walked into Raven’s tent. Oh, the false maiden was annoyed, wonderful. “We can’t let them now Yang is here, she’d one of their targets by proxy.”

Well shit, that might cause problems. Raven slipped the silver-gold band over her wrist pulled her mask on and gave the order to warn her daughter. Raven wasn’t sure what these people wanted but it better have nothing to do with the spring maiden.

“What?” Raven stepped out to come face to face with Cinder and her goons, and some random bulky guy. “Oh, you.”

“Hello Raven, we’re looking for the spring maiden.” Cinder’s hand ignited a flimsy threat at best. “We believe you can help us.”

“And I would why? Your attack almost cost my daughter her life and you directly attacked my niece.” Raven held a hand on her sword as she stared the fall maiden down. “So tell me, why shouldn’t I gut you where you stand?”

“Oh, Raven you’ll find our goals actually align for once.” Raven wouldn’t buy that but she watched her daughter coming up behind the group horns out and scales visible on her left arm.

“Put the fire away and that may be true.” Yang’s mask and scales made her difficult to recognize for those that knew her, for Cinder who’d seen her in passing it’d be more than enough. The group of lackeys turned to the new voice, each with weapons drawn or otherwise ready to fight.

“Wyvern, to what does our esteemed guest owe the pleasure?” Raven could work with this if she had to at least. Cinder looked annoyed as if this was unexpected. Good. Then Raven watched Cinder’s gaze snap to the sword on Yang’s back.

“Oh, that’s a nice sword, where’d you get it.” So Cinder may have worked it out then, that was a problem. Raven would let Yang handle this, see what she comes up with. Hopefully, this would work out in their favour.

“Oh, this old thing? Just a relic of the past.” Of course, puns. Lying by telling the truth was an interesting choice but perhaps it could work. “Just a keepsake from a previous adventure.”

“Back on topic, come sit with me, we’ll discuss this further, Wyvern Join us.” And with that, the group of seven, including Vernal, disappeared into the tent.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, so... Who was expecting this today? This chapter is the longest on a page by page bases, not sure on word count.
> 
> So... Anyone that knows PJO knows the importance at fatal flaws, anyone wanna take a crack at Team RWBY's? Of course, this was a busy week update wise, What's Your Problem? Moon hates everything and Spectral Onyx and now this, yay.
> 
> So I'm also looking into getting a beta or two (My current ones gone off the radar) I'm not looking for dedicated time just something to maybe do every once and a while (Literally, if you manage working on it once a month it'd be more than I'm asking). Contact me over Twitter if you're interested... or in the comments I guess? If you're okay with that. And if you do decide to, talk to me, let me know if you're unable to keep it up, um... okay so I'm partly asking out of a need for more friends... Don't judge me, I know you are, I would be.
> 
> Also, sad news, if RT continues at its current rate and fucks themselves then RWBY might be on it's final season, which would suck. Oh and one more thing, Eruption Fang is an idiot with no idea what he's talking about.
> 
> Hope you enjoyed! If you didn't, tell me why. If you did tell me why. Please, please tell me, I really wanna know what you all think. If you think asking about beta's is a bit of a dick thing to do, state so, please.
> 
> Amendments* The Venom I'm referring to is the car not the Spider-man villain.


	20. Chapter 20

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'd like to thank my friend J for his help on idea's, he helped me bounce idea's around and acted as a guide to inspire me.

Yang found herself in a snowy clearing. How’d she get here? Why was she here? Why were her team and friends looking up at some blue genie lady. Wait, what was that?

“Oh hello Demigod, dreaming are we?” the mostly nude blue lady had leaned down to look Yang in the eye. “I’m so jealous, your dreams can see the future but I can’t, how is that fair? Oh, my name’s Jinn, the genie of knowledge.”

“Um, Jinn, who are you talking to?” Yang’s gaze snapped over to the source of the voice to find Ruby looking up at Jinn and herself looking at her. Ah Demigod dreams, how wonderful. Her future self seemed fully aware of her presence.

“Me, she’s talking to me. This is so weird.” yeah, it was one weird-ass dream.

 

(<=Qrow=>)

 

Qrow didn’t like this. The travelling group had made it to heaven but something was off. They were missing something. Leo seemed like he was nervous about something. If only Ozpin was here, he was always better at reading people.

“Negotiations start tomorrow.” Ruby stretched her arms up over her head and yanked the crown off. “I’m going to bed.”

“Yeah, that’s a good idea, any idea when Yang’s joining us?” Thalia moved to follow Ruby up the stairs and into their room. Weiss and Blake seemed content to pass out on the couch and Renya was in her room. Ruby answered in the negative.

“Yeah okay, you all do that, I’ll just go get a drink then.” Qrow tuned to leave, kids these days had no grasp of planning if it wasn’t combat-related it would seem. What the hell were they being taught at either that camp or school? Nothing useful that’s for sure. Qrow had to resort to teaching Ruby kickboxing because Signal thought her weapon would be enough. Yeah, right. “I’ll be back at some point!”

The bar was fairly empty as Qrow walked in. Perfectly suited to his needs, the fewer people that saw him the better. He needed a whisky… Bottle. He’d known once Raven started having her dreams as a kid that life wouldn’t be simple. Meeting Summer had only confirmed that but he never expected it to get as crazy as it did. Ruby shouldn’t have needed to actually use the Rose family’s status.

“Everything alright sir?” That’d be the barkeep, false concern and all. God he loved bartenders, get the right one and it was basically discount therapy, shitty therapy but still.

“Honestly? No, but Vale’s all the better for my minor misfortune.” The bartender seemed curious at that so Qrow decided to be blunt. “My daughter has become Queen, it’s been a ride.”

“I suppose her highness must have a father somewhere. I assume you came with her for her negotiations?” So word had made it out to the public then. Just great, just what Ruby needed, a likely misinformed public possibly out for her head due to her crimes against the council.

“Yeah, we’re looking out for the kids. Course, she shoulda been one of those kids. Then the council went and mucked things up.” Qrow took a sing from the bottle. “Second disaster they could have prevented, hey wanna know something?”

“I’m always interested in things concerning the council.” Qrow laughed at that. The council was well known for their blunders even in Mistral it seems.

“The fall of mount Glenn was no accident, council found out that about ten or so Rose’s would be there and lept at the opportunity.” Qrow missed the look of horror on the bartender’s face as he downed more of his bottle. The drunker Qrow got the more he talked and the more he talked the more horrified the bartender got. It went on for hours before the door opened and a young voice was heard calling in.

“Hey, is Qrow Branwen here?” Qrow turned to look at the kid. There wasn’t a reason why any kid should be looking for him, he’d only ever had the one.

“Oh good, he is. Um, how do I say this.” What the fuck had Qrow done? “I’d like my cane back.”

“Oh thank god.” Qrow slumped in his seat, it was just Ozpin. This was good, now that Oz was around they could start planning what to do about the rouge maiden and Salem. “Hey hold on a minute, you did that on purpose.”

 

(<=Roman=>)

 

Roman Torchwick had been tasked with looking over the liberated GEO files. The former thief, well you could say he still was one, found a disturbing amount of information on the Rose clan and it only got worse from there. There was a multitude of projects they were working on, new Grimmborn, Aura amplification, genetic engineering. The list went on and on until Torchwick found something far worse than all the others.

“Nox has proven to be our best candidate so far, he has lost his aura in the process but the pathways are still there.” Roman read the latest report in a long series with a frown. “The doctors say he’s an ‘Apathy’, whatever like it matters. Nox just might be our best creation yet!”

Roman continued to read the report before moving on to the next. Each one painted a horrible image in Roman’s mind as they talked about Nox and the GEO’s studies of him. One report went over how they trained Nox, another mentioned his increasing strength and the weakening of those around him. Eventually Roman reached a report that filled him with dread. He rushed from the room in search of his employer, this was bad. In his haste, Roman left the file on the desk, flipped open to show a signal image of a man covered in shadows while his hands smouldered.

 

(<=Ruby=>)

 

Ruby stretched as she walked into the living room. She and Thalia had slept great which was surprising considering the results of the last time they slept in the same bed. Weiss hadn’t been happy about rule one being broken while she was in the room. Now, what did she need? Oh breakfast, right. With that thought, Ruby finally walked around the couch and froze in place.

“Okay, what in the underworld happened?” Ruby kicked her father, it would appear the man was now picking up strays. Weiss had established the major rule of not bringing strangers in and Qrow went and broke it in less than a day.

“Huh, what? Oh him, I found Oz.” And Qrow rolled back over to go to sleep, hungover. Normally Ruby got on his case about drinking but after the past couple days, she’s willing to make an exception. Ruby kicked her father again.

“That’s not a good enough explanation dad, where’d the kid come from?” Ruby turned to look at the now awake kid, oh that’s something at least. “Alright, who are you and why are you here?”

“My name is Oscar.” The boy stood and had to look up at Ruby. Finally, someone does. Just before Ruby could ask for more detail the boy continued. “You have silver eyes.”

“What do you know!?” Ruby rushed forwards and pinned the boy to the wall. The only people to distinguish her eyes as silver rather than grey knew something they weren’t supposed to. “How did you learn about the silver eyes!”

“I know nothing! I swear! All I know is that it’s important, that’s all Ozpin told me.” Ruby’s eyes narrowed at that, she’d never really trusted Ozpin. This child was involved in the old man's games now, how low of him. The kid flashed green for a moment while Ruby held him.

“Ms. Rose, please. I can explain everything.” Was that Ozpin’s voice? Was he possessing a kid now? “I assure you that I only know what I should, I was never trusted with the Rose family secrets.”

“Start with what you're doing in this kid.” Ruby’s silver eyes held the barest hint of a red glow as she stared the man, kid? Down. Ruby didn’t like this at all, there were far too many unknowns. “And then your gonna leave the poor kid alone.”

“I assure you, Ms. Rose if I could I would.” Ruby let him down at that point but the faint crimson glow of her eyes did not fade. “I was cursed you could say to be reborn each time I die. This will continue for eternity, I will not be able to pass on until the mission I was given is complete but it’s an impossibility. And each time I die a new unsuspecting victim gets dragged in alongside me, they don’t deserve this fate but I can’t change that.”

“So what you're saying is that the kid's life is over and you had no say in this?” Ozpin nodded. Something was missing from that story. “I don’t like this, who did this to you?”

“That’s unimportant at the moment, I promise you I’ll tell you but right now we need to talk about Leo.” Ozpin took a seat on the chair. “Somethings off about him if what Qrow has said is true.”

“What exactly might the problem be?” Ruby paused for a moment as the realization sunk in. “He was too agreeable. Almost like he was just trying to get us to hurry up and leave, he even cleared his schedule for tomorrow even though we said we’d wait.”

“That’s unlike him, he always lets the ones that came to him select the time so long as it complied with his schedule.” Ozpin paced the room briefly as he thought. “We can’t trust him, which means we need to find the spring maiden. I don’t think the relic is safe.”

Ruby kept her mouth shut at that. The redhead queen knew very well where and who the Spring maiden was, her dreams wouldn’t let her forget Raven announcing it. She wouldn’t say anything and wouldn’t out her aunt, not before talking to her about it first. There were few things Ruby truly wanted Ozpin to be aware of when it came to her family.

“We’ll be meeting again tomorrow afternoon, do you really think he’ll try anything?” Ozpin seemed to consider for a moment. The man had seen many things and learned to think like many people in the past.

“Yes.”

 

(<=Raven=>)

 

“Leo Lionhart turned traitor? Expected, the man always was a spineless coward.” Cinder had gone into far more detail about her plan then strictly needed, that was the first clue that it was a ruse. “Wyvern it appears we’ll get to steal the relic of knowledge after all.”

“Do you really think it wise to bring her along?” Cinder looked almost angry about the prospect of anyone other than Raven and the supposed spring maiden going along. “After all, we only need to retrieve the relic and then we’ll be leaving, there shouldn’t be any need for reinforcements.”

“Oh, but there is. You see my brother is currently in town.” Raven smiled at that, she had to choose her next words carefully. “I don’t much care what you do to anyone there except my niece is likely present as well, she will be untouched.”

“I can’t promise that.” The rage in Cinder’s eyes was frankly concerning to Raven. If this woman wanted her niece dead then there was a problem. Raven is a portion of a goddess of family, hurting her family was a terrible idea.

“Touch her and your corpse will be so unrecognizable they’ll think you died decades ago.” Yang’s hand was wreathed in a golden-white fire as she stared Cinder down. The change in Yang’s hearth fire was recent and Raven felt it couldn’t have come at a better time. “Is that clear  _ Autumn? _ ”

“Yes, I believe so. I also believe we are done here for today, tomorrow we will be retrieving the relic.” Cinder her goons and Hazel got up to leave. Once they were out of the camp Cinder continued to speak. “We will be killing all of them later.”

“Yang, tone it back.” Raven stood she needed to think this through very carefully. If she was right then Cinder was hoping to use her as transportation. “We need her to think we’re on her side, She will not be killing your cousin.”

“So we help pull the relic out?” Yang pulled her mask off and sat down across from Raven. “I thought you wanted to hide being the spring maiden a little longer.”

“That was the plan however gathering the relics seems to be the best course of action.” Raven paused for a moment to let that monumentally bad idea sink in. “We have destruction and can gain knowledge, knowing Ozpin he’ll head to creation and Ruby will bring both the others back to choice. Which seems to be exactly what Salem wants but what she doesn’t know is that we have ready contact with three of the maidens, myself, Vermilion and Ruby knows Summer.”

“How does Ruby know summer,” Yang held up a hand to cut her mother off. “No wait, let me guess. The Rose clan has been protecting the summer maiden for generations?”

“Yes. Now we need to plan. Once I get her down to the vault with Vernal I’ll reveal myself and attempt to take her out. You will remain upstairs working with your team to bring her allies down.” Yang stood and stretched before moving to leave. The tall Blonde paused at the tent flap for a moment.

“So, what are the chances of you giving me my gauntlet back?” Raven didn’t reply, she simply continued to drink her tea while holding the mug in her right hand. A gleaming gold band rested on her wrist. The message was very clear and resounding  _ No. _

“You will get it back when you’ve proven to me that you learned from the mistakes that cost you it.” Yang groaned in frustration at that. Raven and Hestia had very different teaching methods but on some points, they agreed. Raven had to suppress a grin at the muttered ‘whatever’ from Yang.

 

(<=Thalia=>)

 

Thalia Stretched her arms up over her head as she and the rest of the group walked towards Heaven. Reyna had been quieter lately than she was when they were at Beacon, the Roman seemed to be observing Ruby and her team. While Thalia didn’t know everything that was going on she didn’t like the way Reyna was eyeing Ruby. Something just felt off about it.

“Hey, Ali?” Thalia turned to Ruby. Her favourite little hunter had seemed a little out of it on this mission like she’d taken on too much too quickly. “What’s going to happen when you need to go back home?”

Oh man, Thalia was so not ready for this talk. How should she say it? Is it too soon? “Home? I wasn’t aware that I wasn’t already there.” Thalia knew she’d said the right thing the moment Ruby looked back up at her. That little glimmer of happiness was all Thalia would ever need to see from her. Although now she needed to prevent Percy from ever hearing of this. “Little Red you need to remember home is where you want it to be and I am right where I want to be.”

“Well as sweet and nice to hear as that was the question stands. You do need to go back to Earth at some point right?” Weiss, as all Athena children do, was more focused on something bigger than Ruby and Thalia. Artemis’s lieutenant wasn’t sure if this was a good idea but she didn’t have much choice in the matter, not anymore.

“Once the gods figure out what’s going on with the gate it’ll be my job to close it should fail to keep the Grimm out.” Ruby had visibly tensed at that, the girl had a protective streak a mile wide. There was no way in hell Ruby would let the gate be closed. “I doubt I will though, it’s a principle thing.”

“Great, are you kids done your conversation now? Because we really need to get going.” Qrow pushed the doors open in an effort to silence the people behind him. It failed but the figure waiting on the other side didn’t. “Raven?”

“I’m sorry Qrow.” And with that Raven's sword slipped down through the air. The crimson blade made Blake flinch while it tore a swirling red and black hole into the air. Qrow had to dive to the right to avoid the fireball that came through.

“You can aim well but your fire has too little heat.” That was Yang's voice. If yang of all people was going along with this then there was a good reason. Out of the portal stepped Cinder and her goons, alright, there damn well better be a good reason. Yang came after alongside Vernal/.

“Right, and you're the fire expert.” Cinder rolled her eye before she zeroed her gaze in on Ruby. The sneer that spread across her face was one of the few that could rival Qrow’s own. “Well well well, what do we have here? A cutesy little group of defenders? That's cute, but something’s missing? Where’s the blonde bimbo?”

“Cinder Fall.” Ruby’s snarl would likely make most back off or outright run in fear. “You killed hundreds of my people, I will kill you but first I can’t help but wonder.  _ Why? _ ”

“Why? You want to know why I’d set out to destroy the works of a government that tore me down.” While Cinder seemed willing to keep things civil for now Qrow wasn’t taking chances. He waved his hand behind his back while keeping his hand on Harbinger’s hilt. The older man trusted the kids to follow his lead. “My parents, everything I ever knew was destroyed in Mount Glenn because of the council! Those pencil-pushing shitbags approved a project that killed thousands and left hundreds more orphaned. I resolved to fight them at every opportunity, to keep them from causing more people to go through what I did. For that, I needed power, power that Salem offered to give me!”

“Five hundred eighty-two.” Ruby’s eyes held the distinct red glow of the Grimm while she spoke. With Scythe in hand, the Queen of Vale began walking forward, slowly. “That’s the number of kids your attack orphaned, the number of kids whose home and family you took from them. You may fight the council but you are exactly the monster you believe them to be.”

There was a deafening crack as Ruby surged forward. Her arm held back and with a simple twist of the wrist, her scythe blurred into a deadly arc aimed right for Cinder’s neck. A blade made from solid glass and mostly magic were moved into position to block meer moments before the long curved blade could connect. Unfortunately for Cinder, that blade belonged to a scythe, which meant it was curved. With part of the blade still twisting around Cinder, cutting diagonally down her back, Ruby simply twisted herself and fired.

Cinder’s aura held out and she was merely tossed into the ground,  _ hard, _ rather than bisected. That was the moment all hell broke loose. Raven moved back towards the statue while Hazel seemed content where he was. Mercury went after Weiss and Emerald were chasing Blake. Emerald was finished it seemed, no way she’d last long against Blake but Mercury? Ruby had a bone to pick with him and Wyvern, come on Yang that ones a little obvious, moved to intercept him and take on Weiss herself. Cinder clearly needed to go wherever Raven and Vernal were trying to so Ruby would Allow them to.

Thalia could feel the lightning in her veins as she held her spear and shield. The punk hunter was on defence duty for Oscar. Thalia was usually on point but in this case, things were a little personal for her girlfriend and her team. Oscar was insistent on talking to Leo, trying to figure out what was going on with the man. Thalia could only see this going poorly.

As Thalia and Oscar moved around the fight Ruby stepped into Mercury’s way. The legless assassin had turned with a leg up for a roundhouse that Ruby easily dodged out of the way. Mercury’s follow up axe kick was just as easy to dodge. While Mercury was a skilled fighter he was still mostly self-taught. Ruby was trained by skilled professionals for more than six years, most of them were faster and better than her current foe. Dropping down Ruby swept Mercury’s legs out from under him and carried through the momentum to drive her foot into his ribs and follow up with her fist meeting his face.

“Your good but you have no real training.” Ruby’s next attack had her heal impact Mercury’s shoulder. A wake of shadows followed Ruby's next attack as she drove her foot straight out into Mercury’s stomach. “Oh, that’s new.”

“Shut up, this is a fight, not a conversation.” Mercury moved for a series of kicks. Each different than the ones preceding it, each one missing. Yang and Weiss were making lazy swings at each other, none connecting. But even their lacklustre effort looked like a full-on battle as Yang waited to the last minute to block and Weiss made it appear that she was trying to conserve energy. Blake was digging through every illusion Emerald made her see by having her skeletal warriors attack the green-haired girl.

“How are you doing this?” Emerald had to move back to avoid a wild slash from one warrior and found herself ducking right as another sailed over her head. Blake had yet to move, every attempt at tricking her failed as her warriors would always go after the real Emerald.

“I’m the daughter of the king of the dead, you could argue that I’m the princess in fact.” Blake’s eyes, unlike Nico, held a distinct purple glow when she was using her powers. Emerald suddenly found herself alone with the dead as Blake vanished into the shadows. When Blake reappeared she was directly behind Emerald. The heavy swing of her cleaver was impossible for the other girl to beat.

“Leo! What are you doing?” Thalia watched as Oscar approached the lion-tailed man. This was going to go bad. The man aimed at the boy who very much resembled Ozpin at that moment. “Aiding Salem? You know she seeks only destruction, she will be the end of everything.”

“You don’t understand, there was no choice Ozpin.” Thalia watched as Hazel’s gaze snapped over to Oscar at that moment. The man had a dangerous level of anger in his eyes. “She will win, there’s nothing anyone can do about it.”

“Ozpin!” Hazel sounded incredibly enraged, just what had Ozpin done to him? “You killing more kids? Just sending them to their deaths not enough for you?”

“Wh-what are you talking about?” Oscar looked downright terrified of the man, Thalia could get that. And then things got worse as the man literally stabbed a bunch of dust into his arms, holy shit that hurts to do.

“Kid, you won't survive this, let the old man out.” Thalia moved to intercept Hazel. She figured dying must be painful and Thalia didn’t want to put Oz through that again nor would she let Oscar. As Thalia went to swing her spear Hazel grabbed her head. The girl could feel the lightning flow into her body and without an aura, as her minuscule one had been shattered immediately, she could also feel her skull cracking as the large man squeezed her head.

“You continue to bring children into this! Will she be your latest victim? Like my sister?” Thalia’s screeches had halted most of the fighting and Cinder had paused in surprise. “Children you send out into war! Children you watch die without remorse!”

“Wh-what are you-” Oscar was cut off by Hazel as the man continued his triad. Thalia’s screams got louder as her skull continued to split and the lightning arcing through her body responded. With every second Thalia could feel the electricity flowing into her body trying to stitch her skull back together.

“He didn’t tell you? He sends children out into the field! He sends them on missions, he’s nothing more than an executioner!” Thalia had quickly had enough and reached up. With every bit of her will she could muster the daughter of Zeus reached for the lightning and pulled. In that instance, that single moment, Thalia had never felt so powerful, it was like something snapped into place. Like a limit had been removed and the electricity answered all the electricity. The lights flickered off and the room was lit only by the blue arcs that flowed around Thalia.

Not a bolt touched the ground, she wouldn’t let it. The lightning was  _ hers.  _ No one would take it from her. There was a deafening crack of thunder and Hazel found himself on the other side of the room. Thalia stood, her skull still being stitched back together as she did so.

“You're _ a hypocrite you know that? A speech about killing children while crushing a child's skull. Pathetic.”  _ Thalia took a step forward except her foot never met the ground. With every step, Thalia covered far more distance than strictly possible.  _ “Unfortunately for you, I’m not a child, I’m a huntress. But I’m so much more than that, I am the daughter of the sky king, everything in the air is mine. Every bolt is mine to command, you are nothing.” _

Thalia felt free as if there had always been a stuffing presence that held her back. Something pulling the lightning from her hands. Her father, of course, he controlled the lightning on Earth, he took it from her but he wasn’t here. Without him, there was no one to take the lightning, no one. So why was she only so powerful now? Thalia had become Queen of the sky simply by being on a planet that didn’t have one and she would make use of it.

“You are still just a child.” Hazel reached into his pouch and pulled out more dust. Thalia gathered a ball of lightning in her hand, barely one percent of her power, not even half a percent and it shined brighter than and light she’d ever seen before.

_ “I think you don’t understand who your fighting. I am the Queen of this sky, I am the storm's eye, I am the lightning. So I repeat, You. Are. NOTHING!”  _ Thalia surged with energy and launched her attack. The bolt was nearly a foot thick and flashed through the distance far faster than lightning normally would. Hazel was blasted back as every spark of energy from the building hit him in the chest.

“Holy shit.” Weiss looked stunned. That was Percy Jackson levels of raw power, maybe even more. Yang stood frozen as well, not in shock or awe or even fear but rather in worry. The blonde had once felt the heat of many hearth’s while angry, that kind of power was pure terror once you came down from it. Ruby blinked as she heard Thalia’s voice crackled along with her lightning.

“Hot.” The redhead turned back to her opponent with a grin. She was in a very good mood now it seems. Mercury paused for a moment. “So hot.”

“Honestly? Yeah.” Mercury’s next attack went wide as Ruby ducked down and delivered a nasty punch to the gut. The two separated by a few short feet and Ruby took advantage of Mercury’s wide stance to kick him between the legs. The silver-haired boy dropped like a sack of rocks. “Aren’t you the hero?”

“Well yeah, and a hero has to win so dirty tactics are kind of a given.” Ruby turned back to Thalia who was glaring daggers at the smocking form of Hazel. The daughter of Zeus still crackled with untold amounts of lightning as she hovered in the air. Thalia’s gaze quickly swept the room. Emerald was under a pile of skeletons, Mercury rolling around in pain, Hazel was likely dead, Leo had vanished like the coward he is and Cinder had vanished down the elevator with Raven and Vernal.

“I want more things to fight.” There was a cruel cackling at that as the doors opened. A man in a fine suit walked in, he stood taller than most in the room with pure black eyes and little bone-white spikes coming from various parts of his body.

“Well, that’s a relief. I thought I’d have to convince you myself.” The man's black eyes lit with crimson energy. “My name is Imp, I hope we you can make this interesting.”

The man’s arm extended out and snatched Crescent Rose from the floor. As the weapon began to move Ruby reacted, with her hand out she yanked back on the gravity dust in the scythe and halted its movement. Ruby didn’t seem to be straining to hold her scythe back but she did look angry.

“Ah, you think yourself strong enough that simple dust will beat me?” Imp grunted with effort as he continued to pull Crescent Rose back towards himself. Ruby laughed and her weapon stopped once more. The blade began to move back towards Ruby, slowly as if making a point.

“Dust? No, you have it all wrong, I’m the mistress of gravity.” Ruby’s eyes were a solid silver at this point. Imp dropped to one knee with a startled gasp. “Gravity dust is one of the most common in construction and while I can’t fuck with the gravity of the planet too much dust is easy.”

Crescent Rose surged out of the man's grasp and into Ruby’s. The blade flipped up to make the weapon a war scythe, something much more reasonable (and possible) on Earth. It took an immense effort for the man to stand but when he did his eyes had lit with the crimson energy of the Grimmborn. Imp’s form flickered as he moved to the left, a bolt of deep azure lightning surging through his previous position.

“Now now, this is between me and the  _ perfect  _ little monster.” He’d said perfect with such disdain and hatred.that most paused. It sounded like a deeply rooted vendetta. “What’s so special about you? Huh, your highness. What about you let you keep your aura? Your mind? Why aren’t you soules like most of us?”

“So that’s it? My family’s the perfect little Grimmborn and you’ve got an issue with it?” Ruby’s hand slid across the floor as she crouched. The wolf seemed to be looking for something and she seemed to find it as her head snapped up to reveal the crimson glow emanating from the solid silver orbs. “Tell me, how’s my grandmother? I can’t imagine she took my threat all that well.”

And before Imp could react she was in front of him. Crescent Rose spun in a deadly arc with the top edge coming towards his torso. The follow-up stab at his chest from Ebony was unexpected but avoidable just like the previous attack. Ruby’s foot and second swing with Crescent rose, one at his robs the other his shin, connected and dropped him back to one knee.

 

(<=Unknown=>)

 

The divine were interesting. On their own planet, the halflings were limited by their parents. But on Remnant those parents were almost entirely powerless, without a limit what could a demigod do? Anything they desired, a son of Poseidon likely could rattle the ground and drag all the oceans to himself, a daughter of Demeter would have complete control over all farm crops. A daughter of Zeus would be able to pour every last spark into their blows. Demigods needed limits and sometimes they did not.

Remnant had chosen its gods and it would never let them die. Thalia Grace had needed power far beyond what she could achieve while limited and so she had received, a second demigod would need that power soon. Tides were changing.

 

(<=Jacques=>)

 

A board room was in chaos as finely suited men and women argue. Papers littered the table and many chairs laid forgotten in the corners. Jacques Gele sat in the middle of it all, quietly musing to himself at the latest development. Imp had escaped custody, perhaps it was time to change tactics.

“The Rose family are perfect Grimmborn,” Jacques spoke. Every gaze was on him in an instant. “Perhaps we should look at what separates them from our experiments. They are faunus.”

“Oh, it is far more than that Jacques. They are descended from the Grimm queen, my blood flows through them but you are right.” A woman in a long black gown stood in the doorway. Her face was pure white, a terrifyingly unnatural colour for a human. Salem’s grin told stories of pain and her eyes held hatred in spades as she spoke. “My name is Salem, I have a proposition for you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well holy fuck... 12 fucking pages just over 5500 words and it's not even everything that I wanted, the next chapter will likely be even longer as it's the rest of this mess and then the first real divergent. I still have Adam and Cinder's thing and now I have Imp and holy fuck.
> 
> So yeah, Jacques and Salem working together, something is up to something. Destruction on Yang's Back, knowledge under her feet and choice in beacon. Shits about to hit the fan. I honestly think I can cut this off after 5 or so more chapters and set to work on the sequel, yeah that's right after the first line of the prophecy happens I'm ending this and finishing it in a separate story. 
> 
> The scene with Thalia was fun to write btw, she doesn't really shin outside Titans curse so...
> 
> Hope you enjoyed, let me know in the comments, liked it? Tell me, didn't? Tell me, simply hate me? Tell me, wanna vent your frustrations about PKMN SWSH? Well... maybe not here, I'd listen if you really wanted to but.


	21. Chapter 21

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to my buddy J for idea bouncing.  
> To the people from before I deleted the not chapters, if you were on C19 before head to 18, and if you were on 20 go to 19, if you were on c22 your good

Glynda starred in minute horror at the sceptre sitting on Oz- _ her _ desk. The object was an exact match to the description of the relic of creation. Something that was supposed to be in Atlas. The summer maiden had been lost for hundreds of years so no one should have been able to get into the vault, Atlas had even kept a record of entries to the vault. No one had gone in for four hundred years.

“What the hell?” Glynda was shocked, how had the person who held the relic even get it in here? Whom the fuck broke into Beacon, the royal guard was patroling. “General Adiel report to my office.”

It was only a matter of minutes before Coco arrived in the office. The guard had been cooperating with Valian hunters to rebuild the school and provide aid to the citizens since the disaster. They were the only reason for why the CCT had been repaired as fast.

“How did this get here?” Coco glanced down at the sceptre briefly. The glint in her eyes suggested a game, great.

“Well, the summer maiden thought she’d bring us a little  _ creation. _ ” Of course, puns, fuck.

 

(<=Ruby=>)

 

Yang’s mask laid forgotten on the ground as the harsh golden glow of her fire glinted off her sharp teeth. Her crimson gaze spoke of pain as the flames reflected off of them. Ruby’s eyes were solid silver as they glowed with harsh dark energy, her stare unnerving. The redhead’s clothes were bathed in the soft violet light of gravity dust. Weiss stood on a blue glyph, the upwards stream of light cast dark shadows over her face while the faint white glow of the summoned hellhound curled around the Schnee girl like a river. Blake’s gaze held the violent purple light of death as her skeletons revelled in the shadows. The darkened bones stalked and crawled around the room, tearing at each other and the ground. The ever-shifting shadows cast by Thalia’s azure lightning would reveal bits and pieces of the scene.

Imp was down on one knee with Ruby stood above him. The redhead had to take two steps back as Imp moved to attack. His punch went wide and Weiss found herself having to dodge the attack as it went wide around her leader. The man was dedicated to his cause. Imp’s next strike was directed at Ruby’s legs, his arm swept across the floor. Ruby vanished and Weiss’s glyph simply lifted. Blake dramatically fell sideways onto a throne of bone and Yang fell, her wings popped out and she caught herself just before impact.

“You're a fool, you have no hope of beating all of us.” Ruby’s next shot was joined but a jet of raw golden heat and the screech of bones slamming into and grinding against the ground. The attacks were joined by a black glyph forming beneath Imp’s feet. The man growled in frustration as Ruby attacked. Lunaris spun through the air just barely missing Imp’s head. Yang’s fist impacted the man's stomach as she launched forward. The force of Yang’s blow drove Imp into the far wall.

“You believe you can beat me?” Imp surged forward with unnatural speed. As he moved he kicked Lunaris up from the ground and sent it flying at Ruby. The blade stopped in front of Ruby’s face and spun in a lazy circle before flying back at him. The blade’s arc went wide and Imp’s fist connected with Ruby’s chest quickly followed by his other one meeting her jaw. The two blows sent her sprawling across the room. Weiss reacted to that by ruching forward and running her blade through Imp’s abdomen. Blake had stood up, her army shifting about in her agitation.

“It’s not belief, it’s just the truth.” Weiss had her hellhound shielding her from attack. The beast stood at a meer seven feet this time around. Imp was left staring at the three girls still standing and watched as Ruby stood. The redhead gave a signal statement that would alter the flow of battle majorly.

“This room could really use a skylight.” Yang was the one to react her wings snapped open and launched herself upwards at the front wall. Imp couldn’t allow that so his arms stretched and he yanked Yang down by the base of her wings. His leg kicked out and impacted against Blake’s chest, or it would have if not for the wall of bone that rose to intercept it. Weiss’s beast moved to attack which left Imp with one option for defence, he threw Yang at it.

“That’s it! I’ve had it with you four. Your impossible powers and gods damned fucking  _ MAGIC! _ ” Imp’s eyes were a solid red and emitted a bright crimson glow as the shadows spun around his hands. A shadowy Grimm imp rose from the ground behind him. “Come to me, our queen needs your aid brothers.”

“Wow, not cliche or anything.” Blake’s first wave of skeletons rushes over Imp, well it was more a literal wave of bone. Imp can feel a hand wrapped around his wrist quickly followed by another on his other wrist. As Imp is dragged down his shadow rushes towards Blake. Several skeletons move to block but the shadow passes right through them. “Oh well look at that.”

Ruby reached out and grasped Ebony and Lunaris with their gravity dust. The pair of daggers began to orbit around her. Thalia was still in the air watching the fight. With Imp restrained  Thalia fired a bolt of lightning. She intended to fry the bastard and end it there but his shadow stretched one arm out to intercept the bolt while grabbing Blake. The cat’s screams as the current passed through her were nearly unbearable.

“HAHAHA! You really thought it’d be that simple? That I’d allow you that pleasure?” Imp slowly stood, the skeletons holding him down having lost strength alongside their mistress. Blake was swaying on her feet and her skeletons rattled far more. “Your so-called team is useless.”

“Shut up! Ruby Rose is the High Queen of Vale.” Penny’s voice cut through the air. Her words carried weight as if they were objects themselves. “She is the leader of team RWBY, the only known huntress team to have a perfect record, I doubt you have the power to break that streak.”

Imp turned to Ruby in his rage. Drawing back a fist he struck at the girl only to hit a cloud of rose petals. This was the nature of fighting Ruby, pure frustration as most attacks missed. As the cloud dispersed it became clear what advantage the darkened room gave the team’s leader. Ruby’s petals were incredibly difficult to spot in the flickering light. The small sheets of red fluttered around the room before suddenly converging above Imp. Imp was unable to dodge the hail of bullets let loose by Crescent, Lunaris and Ebony Rose. The gunfire echoed off the walls for what felt like an eternity as each unloaded their full capacity.

“Gah! Will you stop shooting me!” The doors creaked as Imp spoke. The unmistakable wails of several imp Grimm could be heard from the other side. Yang’s wings were spread wide as she prepared for another launch. As Ruby came back down her orbiting daggers each slashed through Imp as she went. Imp made to turn, he couldn’t let that slight go unpunished. Before he turned fully Blake’s blade meet his ribs. Imp’s eyes trailed along the path of the ribbon back to Blake at the other end of the room. “Oh, shit.”

Blake pulled her ribbon, driving the blade further into Imp’s body and started to pull him towards her. Imp’s form burst and everyone found themselves shifting their gaze around the room. Suddenly the door banged open and Ruby gasped as a sharp jagged black blade priced her chest, the blade was stained crimson with the blood of past victims as well as it’s latest.

“My it’s unfortunate that Nox can’t keep his powers. That one was useful.” The real Imp throw Ruby forward, her body rolling to a stop. Blake reacted immediately. The daughter of Hades had been made the go-to leader when Ruby was out of commission.

“Yang, get down there with Raven. Thalia open this place up, the moonlight should help me stabilize her. Weiss,” Blake’s gaze hardened as she took a shuddering breath. “Kill him.”

 

(<=Adam=>)

 

Finding Blake had proven fruitless. The damn cat had up and left for no reason, following her stupid human friends like a traitor. Well, it didn’t matter, if the reports were to be believed she was here, in the building that he was moments from levelling. All he had to do was wait for Ilia to finish planting the last one, what a foolish little girl. The chameleon had actually believed everything Adam told her.

“Ilia, are you finished?” Adam heard nothing but static on the line for a moment. “Ilia.”

“Sorry, Adam dropped my communicator.” Wait, if she’d dropped it wouldn’t it be on the ground? She’s on a tower. “All bombs are placed.”

“Good, get ready for detonation.” Adam held the trigger, ready to blow the stupid hunter academia to the ground. The symbol of humanity’s rule over them will crumble. “Three. Two. One.”

Nothing happened. Adam pressed the button again and again. Were the bombs faulty? What was going wrong? Had the stupid lizard screwed up the triggers? “Ilia, what went wrong.”

“Nothing, the bombs went off but I never said they were on the school, your base camp makes a lovely crater.” Adam’s grip tightened on his sword. What the hell was that supposed to mean? Had someone else abandoned him? Well fine then, they’d have to suffer alongside the world. “Did you really think Sienna didn’t have a backup plan? She didn’t plan on dying but well, I’m the leader of the White Fang now.”

“What?” Adam could barely contain his rage at this point. His communicator didn’t survive but he didn’t notice, his gaze was locked on the man that had entered the school, for a moment after he entered the door bounced and Adam saw into the room. Blake was leaning over the still form of a girl in a white cloak. The catgirl had been careful to remove the cloak before the growing pool of blood hit it. “ _ Blake. _ ”

The red-haired bull rushed forward, fully intent on ending the menace when suddenly a crack of thunder sounded and the front wall was obliterated by a shaft of azure lightning. The shockwave made Adam stumble back. By the time Adam managed to get his footing again the blonde was gone. The Schnee girl looked ready to murder the man that had stabbed the wolf. None of that mattered, he was going to kill Blake here and now.

“Blake! Die Traitor!” Adam burst through the doors in a rage. His hair held a faint red glimmer as his semblance was active. Blake’s words made the Bull pause however.

“Thalia, take care of that. I need to heal Ruby.” The next thing Adam knew a ball of lightning crashed into him and he found his blade blocked by the shaft of a spear. The girl's eyes were a solid blue and trailed electricity while lightning crawled along her body, most present in her arms and legs. The shield she held was coated and so was her spear.

“ _ You will not touch them. _ ” Thalia’s voice crackled and popped alongside her power. It echoed around the room and came down on you from all directions at once. Adam barely raised his blade in time to block the bolt of lightning that came at him. The energy in his body was intoxicating, both exhilarating and deadly. “ _ Leave now, this is your one chance at survival. _ ”

“You think that.” At that moment Adam unleashed the stored energy. The red wave of energy cleaved through the ground as it travelled only to be ripped apart as Thalia slammed her spear down through it. Adam’s next swing was once more blocked by the spear. Thalia twisted her spear to drive Adam’s blade to the side and continued to push it down. Adam felt his arms shake as the blade clattered against the ground and moments later the lightning coated shield slammed into his head.

“ _ You have made a mistake. This will- _ ” Halfway through her sentence the room shifted. The pool of blood beneath the wolf had grown while the medical tools Blake held had changed. The wolf herself seemed better and the Schnee had fresh blood on her hands. She was also about a foot too far to the left. “ _ -be your last day. _ ”

Adam reacted as soon as his opponent noticed the change around her. Firing his sword, the hilt cracked against the back of her skull. Thalia stumbled forward which gave Adam the opening to swing his scabbard around and nail her in the side of the head. Another quick blow and the girl dropped, the lightning lessened but it still crackled around her.

“Blake!”

 

(==At the same time==)

(<=Weiss=>)

 

As soon as the bolt ripped through the front wall Weiss was off. Myrtenaster went shy of Imp’s stomach as he moved, intercepting her strike with his own blade. Her blade flicked up as she carried through. Imp shifted his footing and flung his shoulder back to avoid the slash only to have to take a step back as Weiss made for another attack. Her blade slashed downward barely missing. Weiss carried the momentum and spun about her toe delivering several cutting attacks before planting her feet and thrusting her weapon forward again. Every time Weiss attacked Imp took another step back.

A pause in Weiss’s attacks gave the suited man an opening. Taking a step forward Imp brought his blade down across Weiss’s chest only for her blade to move upwards. With the blade nearly perpendicular to herself Weiss blocked the attack and turning on her heel brought her sword in for another attack. Imp’s arm stretched out as he punched at Weiss’s face. The attack went wide only to impact against the back of her head.

“Your fast, I’ll give you that girl.” Imp’s blade shot up before quickly coming back down to her chest. Imp had taken the offensive, his sword never stopped moving. Each slash and stab lead to another. Several attacks were blocked by Weiss, even more, dodged. Imp slowly pushed Weiss back until she jumped upwards, flipping through the air she hit a waiting Glyph and launched herself at Imp. The attack left a large cut just under the man's ribs. “Gah, fucking hell.”

Weiss turned to attack again only to freeze at the look of panic on Blake’s face. The faunus would need more time, something they didn’t really have the luxury of at the moment. Watching Blake briefly made Weiss even angrier, this man hadn’t just hurt Ruby, he’d likely killed her. Weiss wasn’t going to allow this. Her blade ignited as her burn dust triggered and she rushed in to attack once more. Every stab and slash was blocked or dodged, Imp was quick but not fast enough to counter Weiss in her rage. Each attack lead to the next, stabs would lead to slashes and glyph boosted attacks were common. Weiss paused in her attacks and quickly poured lightning dust into her glyph, she may not be fast enough but she could fix that. Imp’s fist rocketed forward as he saw an opening.

Weiss stumbled slightly with the impact and the spare vile of lightning dust in her pouch clattered to the floor alongside half the black vile in Myrtenaster as the chamber spun. There was a crack as the glyph absorbed the dust and reacted. After the explosion of light, Weiss looked around to find that everything had stopped, everything except Blake. “What in the world?”

 

(<=Raven=>)

 

This was risky. Raven knew that Cinder was likely after the power of spring for herself and the woman thought Vernal held that power. It was a gamble and Vernal had confided in Raven her own doubts about making it through this. Cinder was a power-hungry fool for trying this, the human body wasn’t meant to hold that kind of power.

“Well, go on. Open it.” Vernal would never get the chance, Cinder was too power-hungry and not too confident to think she’d be able to beat the Nevermore Queen. Cinder’s arm suddenly shot out and a set of claws went straight through Vernal’s chest. Of course, she did. “Ah hah… Where’s the power? What is this!”

“It failed because Vernal was never the spring maiden.” Raven pulled her own mask from her face revealing the ethereal flames bleeding away from her eyes. “I am.”

The floor began to frost over as Raven walked, the plants twisting towards the shining beacon of her power. Cinder let loose a flaming sphere, splashing harmlessly against Raven's chest. As the light made the frost sparkle, Raven's words echoed throughout the chamber.

“That won't work, not against me.” Another ball of fire impacted against Raven's chest. Cinder seemed desperate as a sword of glass formed in her hands, the false maiden had taken several steps back as Raven slowly approached. The light shining through the blade only served to make Raven’s glare all the more viscous. Cinder rushed forward and brought her sword down on Spring’s head only for the blade to shatter against the gold band around her wrist. Raven’s gaze hadn’t shifted until after Cinder’s sword shattered.

Cinder found herself flying through the air after a devastating punch from Raven. As Cinder rose on shaky legs she watched as Raven stalked towards her, her footfalls loud and her footprints alight. Cinder reached into her magic trying desperately for anything that could shift this in her favour. The earth shock as Cinder rose into the air, fire flickered to life around her and the wind kicked into a storm. Raven was undisturbed as her hands ignited in golden flame. A ball of fire was batted to the side to explode on the cave wall and a second was launched back at its source. Raven suddenly kicked off the ground and drew her sword. Cinder had seconds to react and form her own blade to block. Both blades shattered but that didn’t slow the fighters, Raven cam in with a new blade still forming only to impact Cinder’s fresh sword.

A storm of arrows formed behind Cinder and were promptly fired at the other maiden. The arrows met a wall of ice. The wall burst apart and the shards crossed the distance to Cinder. No piece of Ice made it to the woman as they were melted by a wave of fire. Raven let a ball of gold fire fly towards her opponent. Cinder grunted with the impacted as the ball grazed past her. Cinder brought her new blade down in a wide crossed arc. Raven drew her own blade with a flourish that cut through the rock behind her. Earth and rock fell through the cavern as the two fought, it was unclear which would last longer, the fight or the cavern. Each through fire at the other and attacked with long-bladed weapons and projectiles.

Cinder sent a wave of frosted arrows at her opponent only to have the majority bounced right back at her. Raven twisted in the air, flipping backwards and grabbing a slab of rock as she went before throwing it at Cinder as she spun. Cinder had little time to counter so she was left to simply punch the rock before it could hit her.

“So this is the power that maidens can wield.” Cinder was surrounded by a ring of fire as yet another sword formed in her hands. “No one else stands a chance.”

Raven rocketed forward, her fist cocked back. Raven swung with a downward punch that sent Cinder back at the ground. The fall maiden bounced off the catwalk and hit the top of the doorway. By the time Cinder stood back up Raven was already back on the catwalk, the spring maiden glided across the floor towards Cinder moving at an agonizingly slow speed. Dozens of attacks were sent at her but not one of them ever did anything, arrows were incinerated while fire simply didn’t work and ice would melt far too soon. Cinder tried to make a sword to attack but Raven shattered it before it could ever form. Once the distance had been crossed Raven lifted Cinder up by the throat.

“Unhand me! I’ll tear you apart!’ Cinder choked out, desperate for air. All the while clawing at Raven’s arm in a futile attempt to break free. “I swear you’ll regret this! Everything you’ve ever love will be burned away and then I’ll make your death slow, oh so very slow you pathetic coward!”

"Such an angry little flame are we not? I guess it's time we finally snuffed out this candle's pathetic fire" Cinder’s eyes widened in fear as ice began to creep up her legs, her struggles grew more erratic, more desperate. In the end, it was meaningless as the ice started to spread to her arms. The last thing Cinder saw as she was dropped off the edge was the cruel smile on Raven’s face and the glint of an unholy rage in her eyes.

“You know if anime’s taught me anything she’ll be back.” Raven turned to find her daughter kneeling beside Vernal.

“It makes little difference.” Raven crouched next to her daughter. “What are you thinking?”

“I might be able to save her, but I don’t think my fire will be enough and you don’t have the fine control for it.” Yang reached back for the sword of destruction. “But if I can direct it maybe I can destroy the injury.”

“Well it’s either you do nothing and she dies or you might fail and she dies anyway.” Raven watched the gold white flames flicker along the blade briefly. Yang looks strained as she works but slowly the injury fades, piece by piece. Then things go wrong and Yang drops the blade as Vernal’s wounds begin to get worse. “Not yet. One day but not yet.”

“Yeah. I’m gonna miss you Vernal.” Raven stares at the body, the girl had died for a cause. “I won't let this be for nothing.”

And that’s all that matters in the end, that it wasn’t for nothing.

 

(<=Blake=>)

 

Everything stopped around Blake. Everything except Ruby and Weiss and even then the blood flow from Ruby had slowed significantly. What the hell was this and how did it happen? Weiss was running over to her and Adam was trying to do the same, except he wasn’t moving and had Thalia between him and her.

“I don’t know what this is but use it and I’ll deal with  _ him  _ If Ali can’t _. _ ” Ruby’s gaze had locked on to Adam. BLake nodded and Weiss sat next to her, they could do this. Between the moonlight, ambrosia and nectar they could heal Ruby but it’s better safe than sorry.

“Weiss could you bring me one of those Imps, the negative energy will make this far easier.” Of course, Blake had an alternate reason for getting Weiss to walk off. The cat faunus needed to hide the flakes of gold in her leader's blood.

“Here. Hopefully one will be enough.” Weiss moved Blake’s hands away and pressed her down onto the wound. “Get the tools you need, she’ll need stitches. Thank the gods it wasn’t divine metal.”

“Heh, you can that again.” Ruby winced as she laughed. “Ahg it hurts to be happy.”

“Well, we’ve got some anger you can feed on.” Ruby’s shadowy claws ripped into the Imps chest and pulsed as she drew the energy in. The glow of her eyes brightened and the wound began to close more quickly. “Sorry Rubes, can’t give you any pain meds here.”

Blake had pulled the group's emergency medkit out, the demigod one. Once Ruby had gotten her fill of negativity, ambrosia and nectar Blake got to work on closing the wound. Weiss wobbled slightly on her feet as Blake worked and before long Blake had to say something.

“Weiss, drop the Glyph effect, Ruby will survive this but at this rate, you won’t.” Weiss only responded with a nod and returned to her position. Once there Weiss let the glyph matrix collapse. With a stuttering time resumed, Adam’s fight continued mostly undisturbed. Thalia turned to them for a moment and it was all Adam needed for three quick blows to end it.

“Blake!” Adam was coming at them again, his sword raised high to attack. “I’ll kill you!”

“No.” Adam froze with his blade inches from Blake. With a downward glance, he saw what stopped him, Ruby Rose with eyes of pure crimson with a silver glow had stabbed him. The silver blade of Ebony had been pushed through his abdomen, in exactly the same place as Blake’s newest scar. A scar that Adam had given her. Ruby pulled Adam down by his collar briefly.  _ “An eye for an eye.” _

With a terrifying screech of rage, Ruby reached up and ripped Adam’s arm off at the elbow. Adam stumbled back, a look of shock on his face as he stared at his severed forearm. He looked over at Ruby for a moment.

_ “You should heed warnings, never touch a wolf's pack!” _ The man grabbed for his sword and bolted. Adam’s departure gave Blake the chance to look over at Weiss only to gasp in shock at what she saw. Weiss stumbled on her feet lightly while Imp laughed at her.  Weiss moved to block a stick but caught it far too close to the hilt which sent her sword flying out of her grip.

Weiss rolled to the side and dove forward. Her hand wrapped around the handle of Crescent Rose and she pulled it up. With a heavy swing she knocked Imp to the ground. Weiss looked angry as she hefted the weapon above her head and slammed it back down onto Imp. The blade despite being dull and useless in Weiss’s hands pierced right through the man's back and buried itself into the stone. Weiss let go of the weapon and wavered on her feet before her aura shimmered slightly. With a shining wave, her aura broke and Weiss collapsed.

“Holy shit.” Oh right, Oscar. The boy hadn’t had much opportunity to do anything, what with team RWBY taking everything onto themselves. Thalia was still on the ground mostly covered in lightning and Ruby was on her feet, she’d summoned her scythe and was now using it as the most elaborate walking stick ever. Reyna was staring at the pool of blood.

“I’ve found what I was after, I’ll be heading for the gate.” And with those words, the roman turned and left.

 

(<=Salem=>)

 

“Your process won't kill him?” One of the scientists flinched at her voice. Tyrian was held in a tube in the middle of the room. The doctors called the room ground zero, the highest concentration of deaths in the entire GEO, none of them subjects.

“No ma’am, this process has a one hundred percent survival rate.” The man scurried away and joined one of his coworkers on the other side of the room. Salem grinned at his fear, oh how she loved it. Tyrian had insisted on being the first test subject, Salem suspected he was still bitter about his loss to the Rose.

“Then hurry up.” Salem would only have to wait moments before the delightful screams of her loyal follower filled the room. After minutes of agonizing screams Tyrian stepped out of the machine, his tail looked different, almost armour-plated. “Excellent, I have an idea for our next subject. It will be marvellous to get at one of them.”

“Oh yes, we can agree on that one.” The scientist eagerly gathered around the image Salem held, each wanting to know who they’d be improving next.

“I’ll intercept them, shall I isolate her?” Salem turned to face her companion. Nox, the apathy such a marvellous creation.

“Yes, there will be other chances to go for the kill.”

 

(<=Jinn=>)

 

The blue being of knowledge felt her prison shift. Perhaps she’d finally be free from this cursed place and with her true mistress. The brother gods had imprisoned her here, had taken her from her home to use her in some sick game with humanity. While she may not know the future she always knew the past.

Yang Branwen, such an interesting character. Perhaps this blonde girl will be her chance at freedom. Suddenly Jinn gasped in pain, images flooded her mind. Visions of the future, images of what her home would face and where she needed to be.

Oh yes, she would help these people on their quest. Remnant had demanded such. Knowledge had one ally and the brothers weren’t it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So that's it, the end of V5, where things take a real turn and go so far off the rails you'd be forgiven for thinking we were in a car. 
> 
> I'm having a blast planning the rest of this out as we ain't done. You think a god damn time stop is the limit? Oh boy, [i]I actually planned to give team RWBY the powers of the maidens originally.[/i] Just you wait, I've got plans, many plans. I'm actually so hyped for this to end because it only gets better from there.
> 
> Raven Vs. Cinder, Adam Vs. Thalia, Ruby stabbed through the chest... I went through a lot here. Ruby's a vengeful little thing here, isn't she?
> 
> Hope you enjoyed, I'm looking to have a new chapter by Sunday and then I'm getting a new computer/desk set up so don't expect much after that for a little while. Let me know your thoughts, questions & concerns if your comment weighs more than "I liked it" I'll reply, within a week usually.


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